I could hear Liam's shouts fade as we were torn from the disintegrating shuttle and flung in different directions. I can honestly say that I had never been more terrified in my life. Not even that time when my peacekeeping team was pinned down in a firefight. A band of batarian pirates had attempted to raid the our dig site and we weren't going down without a fight. We won and had zero casualties, but the battle was brutal. The terror of plunging out of control through the atmosphere, the wind roaring in my ears –– surrounded on all sides by enormous floating boulders and vicious lightning strikes –– definitely topped that.

"Acceleration increasing," SAM's voice piped in helpfully.

"Really? You don't say!" I snapped as I tumbled head over heels, trying to right myself so I could activate my biotic assisted jump jet and slow my descent.

"Jump jet malfunctioning," SAM reported.

Son of a–– "Get it working!" I screamed.

I had managed to pull myself into a semi controlled free fall position and could see a spiky rock formation approaching fast. There was no way I could avoid colliding with the stone precipice, so I focused on trying to avoid becoming the first human smear in Andromeda. The high altitude and extreme force from falling must have stalled the jump jets because no matter how hard I tried, I could not get them to fire, so I switched my focus to utilizing my biotic jump and barrier to try and at least soften the fall. Then, at the last second, the jump jets sputtered to life. Between the jets and my biotics, my fall was cushioned just enough that I was able to avoid splattering the stones upon impact. I still managed to tumble ass over tea kettle the last two hundred feet to the ground.

Can I just say that I will never complain about having to wear my helmet again? When I finally made it to the ground, I landed spread eagle. The wind was knocked out of me but I was able to make a quick assessment and ensure that nothing was broken. I inhaled a deep breath of relief and my lungs seized up. It was almost like trying to breath underwater, there wasn't enough oxygen in the air. Whatever it was made of burned like crazy. I tried not to panic as I started gasping erratic, shallow breaths. Grasping at the faceplate of my helmet, I felt a spiderweb pattern of cracks.

"Oh shit!" I whispered in a panic to myself as I hit a quick programing sequence on my omni tool to switch it over to repair mode. Thankfully, it had the capability of melting the glass just enough that it was able to seal the cracks. I laid there a moment, appreciating the sensation of breathing in the clean air from my oxygen generator. I felt pretty damn proud that I had managed not only to avoid becoming a smear on the mountainside but I avoided becoming an asphyxiated corpse. At that moment, those seemed like some monumental accomplishments.

Despite the fact that I had managed to survive the last five minutes of disaster, my body felt like it had been trampled by a raging krogan. Gingerly, I eased myself to my feet and did a few quick stretches to check that all of my limbs were still functioning properly. Once I was satisfied that my body was structurally sound and intact, I took a good look at my surroundings and froze in shock –– and, if I was being honest with myself, awe.

I was standing at the edge of a precipice overlooking a yawning chasm. Rocky peaks stretched towards sky as far as the eye could see. Seriously, and I kid you not, there were huge chunks of the mountains floating. I kind of thought that I was hallucinating earlier as I plummeted past them, but they were real. Even in that moment of awe, a small voice in the back of my mind –– a voice that never slept –– whispered in my ear "How does that work? What can we learn about this?"

We had arrived at the great unknown and now I wanted –– no, needed –– to know it…to solve its mysteries.

The roar of wind and thunder sounded around me and the air felt charged, as if the lighting wasn't confined to the clouds above but had permeated the very air around me. I took an involuntary step back as brilliant blue bolts of lightning streaked across the sky right at my eye level. I may have been awestruck but I had zero desire to become lightning struck.

Looking at the ground around me, I could see that I was standing on rocky terrain, with bits of some kind of scrub brush dotted throughout. As I took in the foliage, or lack thereof, around me, I did a double take. What the– There were these strange tentacle looking plants sprouting among the scrub brush. I had never seen anything quite like it in the milky way. I bent over to get a closer look. The texture was almost rubbery and they looked like they may be glowing. Their stubby stems seriously ended in these little curlicues. Weird.

I was snapped from my reverie as reality smacked me upside the head. I remembered with a jolt of panic that I was alone, on an uncharted planet after falling over a thousand feet from an exploding shuttle. Did the rest of the crew survive? Would I die here alone? Shit.

I opened my omnitool communicator and called out for the crew, the Hyperion, SAM, anyone. Nothing. No answer. Not even static. I tried again, I couldn't be the only survivor.

"Save your breath! Communications are down!"

I jumped about a foot in the air as a familiar voice called out behind me. I turned and was relieved to see Liam running down a slope towards me.

He's ok! Thank goodness!

"SAM is offline, our commlinks are trashed." He doubled over, panting –– as if he had been running for awhile.

"Is this real? Did we seriously just fall from the sky into this nightmare? Or are we dead?"

"If we're dead, this is hell."

I snorted to myself and was suddenly reminded of an old children's vid, Alice in Wonderland. We fell through the sky into a topsy turvy land of nonsense.

"Maybe we're still in cryo and this is a dream?"

"You mean a nightmare, right?"

"Well, either way, there is no way this is home."

Liam seemed to have caught his breath and straightened, looking around. "We need to find higher ground."

"Are you sure you want to be the tallest thing in this storm?"

He laughed, "We need to find the rest of the crew and they'll be easier to spot if we're high up. We'll be fine. Come on!" He clapped me on the shoulder as he passed and trotted off along the ledge of that chasm towards the closest thing to a pathway I had seen so far. Shrugging, I followed along.

"Recon specialist, right? Go ahead and take the lead then. You scout, I'll watch your back."

That worked for me so I nodded and took point. We headed into a tunnel-like cavern. I was comforted by the cover and there appeared to be a series of ledges that would take us to higher ground.

"Whoa! Would you look at that?!"

I followed his gaze and gasped as I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. "Ummm…are those giant mushrooms glowing?!"

"Just when you thought things couldn't get crazier…. The mountains are floating, the plants are glowing, what next?"

We were passing a break in the tunnel when I heard a deep, bird-like call to my right. I looked between the stones to see what was making that noise. I said softly, "Whoa! Are you seeing this Kosta?"

He turned and his jaw dropped at what he saw. "Those are the biggest birds that I've ever seen!"

I had once visited a beach on earth and the shallow waters were teeming with manta rays. These creatures looked a lot like that. "I don't think they're birds, they look like huge flying manta rays. I've never seen a flying creature like that." Then I said quietly, to myself, "There be dragons. I wonder if Cora has seen these yet?"

We tested our jump jets and worked our way up the tunnel, steadily making our way to higher ground when we reached a chasm larger than those we had previously jumped.

Liam looked down and assessed the distance across. "That one might be a stretch. Think you're up for the challenge, recon specialist?"

I took a second to assess the jump for myself and took a few steps back from the ledge, flashing a cocky grin at him. "You're not chickening out on me now, are ya Kosta?" And at the last second, I triggered the jump jet turbo-charge and vaulted across the chasm, landing neatly on the other side. I turned, a hand on one hip and called, "Coming, Kosta?"

Liam laughed, "Oh, it's on now!" I stepped out of the way as he took a running leap and landed solidly next to me. I noticed however, that he didn't need to use the turbo-charge. "Show off," I muttered as I walked past him, playfully elbowing his arm as I passed. He just chuckled in response.

We continued our journey through the cavern, up and over the various ledges. I have to say that I would like to find whoever invented the jump jet and kiss them because we did not have those in the alliance. I'm certain that those amazing bits of technological genius saved our lives that day. Soon we came to that cavern's exit and paused. Ahead of us was a ledge that led to the next cavern. Seems innocent enough, right? Typically, I'd agree with that sentiment but this walkway appeared to be the primary target of the wrath from that damn lightning storm. I swear, there was lightning hitting the ground every 5 seconds. It looked like a death trap. But, it was our only way forward.

I looked over to see Liam staring wide eyed at the path ahead, shaking his head slightly in denial of what we had to do next. I clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "Ok, so maybe this looks like a death trap but I say it's a challenge. Let's go kick death in the teeth!" I'll admit that I was completely putting on a show, I was pretty sure that we were about to be fried, but what were our options? We couldn't just stay there.

Liam shot an incredulous look my way and said, "You're kind of crazy, you know that, Ryder?"

"I may have been told that once or twice. But seriously, it's just a little lightning. Do you want to stay here? No? Ok, On my count, just run for it. See? There's shelter. Looks like it's only 100 feet ahead. Just make sure to use those turbo boosters and we'll be across in no time. We have totally got this! Ready? GO!"

And we both took off. I was praying that we could avoid the lighting. The challenge was compounded by the fact that there were puddles of what I assumed were water, but could quite possibly be some strange freaky liquid substance that was only posing as water to trick us. Regardless, it was liquid and it would probably shock the crap out of us if we stepped in it while it was charged with electricity.

I ran in a zigzag pattern, engaging my turbo booster when possible, and tried to avoid the spots where it looked like the lightning had struck multiple times.

I could hear Liam shouting behind me, "I don't think I've ever heard of a planet coming up with so many ways of murdering a person."

"Well, you have to give it props for creativity."

"New galaxy, new ways to die, yeah?"

"It won't have us. Not today!" I shouted and continued the charge forward.

By some miracle, we made it to the shelter of the next cavern without getting electrocuted. I honestly wasn't sure what would be worse, asphyxiation or electrocution. Both sounded like awful ways to die.

We raced under the shelter and stopped, looking at each other. We started laughing –– though the laughter had a semi-hysterical edge to it –– and celebrated our survival against the odds.

"We made it!" I cheered.

"Nice work Ryder!" Liam said and offered me a fistbump, which I returned enthusiastically with a, "Right back at ya, Kosta!"

We continued on, away from the lighting, until we came across a few more pieces of our wrecked shuttle.

"Hey look, Kosta! I think this is the panel we were leaning on just before we were sucked from the shuttle and thrown to the ground!"

"Ha! It sure is!" he laughed, then his tone turned more serious, "Ryder, before we go much farther, we should check our weapons. So far our only enemy has been this planet but I wouldn't put it past this hellhole to throw some sort of armed sentient being at us. We should test our weapons. Make sure they're still functioning properly after that fall."

I nodded, "Sure thing. I think this shuttle panel just volunteered to be our target. I propose a contest, good sir. Loser buys drinks when this is all over."

"You're on!"

The panel had the Initiative logo right in the middle. The center of the logo was our target. At that point, all I had was a pistol, which sucked because I was trained in the alliance as a biotic infiltrator. I had my biotics but I prefered to wield a sniper rifle and tactical cloak. Though sometimes I've thought I should have trained as a vanguard. I excel at using my tactical cloak to sneak up on an enemy and punch it in the teeth with a biotic nova. The pistol was probably my weakest weapon but I was going to try anyways. Liam, being the gentleman that he is, insisted that I go first, so I stepped up and took aim. A rustling sound behind me made me jump, just as I had pulled the trigger, causing me to jerk the pistol up. Needless to say, I didn't even hit the panel.

Liam was doubled over in fits of laughter. It turned out that I panicked over his boot scuffing the the ground. He clearly found it highly amusing that I had completely missed the target. "I don't know about your aim, but your gun is working just fine," he laughed, breathlessly.

"Your boot distracted me, cheater."

He laughed and proceeded to take aim with his assault rifle and hit the logo, as close to center as one can get with an assault rifle.

"Ugh, fine. You win this time Kosta but we'll do this again when I have my sniper rifle. Then we'll see who's buying the drinks!"

"Uh-huh. Right. You got it."

We were distracted from our banter when I thought I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. Then Liam said, "Look! Flares!"

"Do you think it's the rest of our team?"

"Only one way to find out!"

I tried to estimate the distance and angle of the flares from where we were standing so I could calculate the navpoint on my omnitool. We continued on and as we rounded a corner, we both froze in place. There was a huge alien structure ahead of us. It looked like the lighting was concentrated around it as it spewed a weird blue cloud of…energy? It looked like it was sending some sort of strange pulse into the air.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Liam exclaimed.

"Yet another new and painful way to die?"

"Maybe we should be keeping tally?"

"How do I kill thee? Let me count the ways…" I began, parodying the Elizabeth Browning sonnet.

Liam snorted, "Yeah, let's keep moving."

We continued over a small ledge and saw several flaming pieces of our shuttle, and––

"Fisher! That's Fisher!" Liam exclaimed in excitement, picking up his pace to join our fellow pathfinder teammate.

I was right at his heels, just as eager to find another survivor when a tingle ran down my spine and I felt goosebumps raise on my arms. We weren't alone. I dove to the ground, taking Liam with me.

"Shhhh...look!" I whispered, pointing across the clearing.

Fisher was slumped against a crate, was he injured? Just on the other side, there were two aliens searching the shuttle wreckage. They were armed to the teeth and their expressions did not convey a hint of friendliness. They wore armor but their –– was it skin? It looked like a form of armor as well, maybe some sort of exoskeleton? I could see their faces with their glaring eyes and mouths set in a fierce line. Their heads were surrounded by this oddly textured exoskeleton. It kind of looked like a brain. Gross.

I knew that first contact protocol demanded that we maintain a peaceful stance unless it was absolutely clear that the aliens intended to inflict harm, but my gut was screaming at me to run in there armed and stand between them and our teammate.

"Shit! What was first contact protocol again?" Liam whispered.

"No deadly force unless fired upon."

"Right, said no one in the field. Ever. What should we do?"

"We'll do our best but be ready in case all hell breaks loose," I said as I reloaded my pistol and mentally prepared my biotics.

"All hell breaks loose? Gee. I wonder what that would be like?"

I shook my head, and beckoned him to follow. We were armed and ready, but kept our weapons down. I really did hope that my gut was wrong and these guys would be relatively friendly. I wanted just one thing to go right that day. Was that too much to ask for?

Apparently, it was. We approached slowly and tried to communicate that we meant no harm, but the assholes glared at us and raised their weapons. I could see one starting to pull the trigger and acted on instinct. I did a biotic dash across the clearing to stand between the aliens and Fisher, releasing a nova that knocked them both down and gave Liam and I the chance to finish them quickly. It was over in a flash.

We stood over the bodies, just staring.

"What the hell are those things?" Liam said, a touch of trepidation coating his voice.

I shook my head, as I bent over, hands on my knees. I was still a little in shock over what had just transpired. Our first contact in this galaxy was not supposed to go like this. What had I done?

A hand clapped on my shoulder, "Hey! It's over, and thanks to you, we won."

I slowly straightened. "This isn't how first contact was supposed to go. I know we had no choice, it was either us or them but I had higher hopes."

"That's on them. We can't let it change us. The next time might go better."

"The whole neighborhood can't be bad, right?" I quipped.

Liam was in crisis response and security specialist mode, all business as he looked around, ensuring that we were safe. He turned to me and said, "We need to shake it off and get ready for whatever comes next." I nodded in agreement and turned to help Fisher up. It turned out that he had a nasty broken leg. He insisted that we go on without him to find help. Before Liam and I moved out, we carefully moved Fisher to a nearby alcove so that he wasn't sitting helpless out in the open. That way if more enemy scouts came along, they could have fun looting the wreckage and would hopefully miss the injured human hiding in the shadows.

Liam and I continued on the path, keeping an eye out for more of the hostile aliens. As we moved, we got to chatting about our past lives in the Milky Way.

"So, you're a biotic?"

"Yup, that's not a problem is it?"

"Nope! Just curious is all. I haven't worked with many biotics."

"Yeah, my mom was the one who created the very first L1 biotic implants. Obviously, that meant that she worked in close contact with eezo. We assume that my brother and I were exposed to it at some point because of that research."

"Is your brother a biotic?"

"Nah, as his big sister, it was my job to shield him from all the crap that comes along with eezo exposure. Even in the womb," I said as I scrambled over a large boulder in our path.

"Ha! Well it sounds like you did a great job."

"Yeah, though we didn't know that I was a biotic until my Alliance training. That's when they designated me as a biotic and gave me my implant along with special training on how to utilize the power effectively."

"What's it like having the implant in your head?"

"Not much different than the SAM implant, to be honest. In fact, my dad adjusted my SAM connection to work with the implant that is already there and avoid unnecessary invasive technology in my brain."

"Well, from what I've seen, you're pretty handy in a fight both with your gun and your biotics. Is the assault rifle your weapon of choice?"

"Actually, I prefer a sniper rifle and a tactical cloak. I know, it's pretty odd for a biotic to be a sniper but I make it work."

"Cool!"

We jumpjetted across a small chasm as I asked, "So what's your story? How did my dad find you?"

"I was a cop back on earth. The story's a little long. But, tell you what. I'll tell you all about it over a beer if we survive this psychotic planet."

"It's a deal!"

We had reached a deep chasm, the sound of machinery echoing up from what we assumed was the bottom and more of that blue energy cloud stuff wafted up from the depths. I could see a number of weird glowing posts that looked like they could have been made from obsidian. They were large enough that with the help of our jump jets we could use them as stepping stones. We stood at the edge of the abyss, looking down. It was so deep that we couldn't see what was making that noise at the bottom.

"What do you think is down there?" Liam asked.

"Alien dark gods of the underworld," I deadpanned.

Shuddering a bit, Liam said, "Ugh, don't say that! I wouldn't put it past this planet. What's making that sound?"

"Alien dark gods."

Shooting me a half reproachful, half amused look, Liam just shook his head and stepped back from the edge. From his body language, I gathered that he wanted to turn around and find a different way forward. I, however, moved away from the edge just far enough that I could take a running leap and jump jet to the other side.

Liam's voice echoed in the cavern as he jumped across, "I can't believe we are doing this!"

"I need to know what's down there!" My insatiable curiosity was getting the best of me.

"Recon specialist. Of course," Liam groaned.

We battled our way along the path, trying to find the rest of the team. We found Kirkland a minute too late. We ran forward, guns blazing, to reach him in time but those damn aliens shot him in cold blood –– we were too late. We took them and their creepy cloaking alien dogs down in a matter of minutes. A little while later, farther down the path, we heard a commotion coming from a nearby cave and stumbled across Greer surrounded by more of angry, growling aliens. Thankfully, we were able to take down the hostiles before he was injured.

Once we had made sure that Greer was uninjured, he told us that he would go back and wait with Fisher for extraction. I had to admit that Liam was true to his title, he was an excellent crisis responder. He was calm and collected through every fight and didn't let his emotions get in the way even once. I was glad to have him with me in this nightmare.

We came to a clearing where the lighting seemed especially concentrated, nearly as bad as the stuff we had to dodge awhile ago. But on the other end of the clearing was a strange structure. It looked different from the obsidian-like, glowing structures we had previously come across. It was rougher and primitive in comparison, and –– I thought during a moment of uncharacteristic shallowness –– a lot uglier. Regardless, my curiosity was piqued in an instant.

"Woah, look at that structure," Liam commented.

"Come on, we should check it out."

Groaning, Liam followed me into the dark, cavernous structure. Flashlights on, we looked around. There were crates everywhere. It looked a bit like a research station.

"Let's hope that nobody's home," Liam said.

"I don't think anyone could live here. I think– I think it's a research facility of some kind. Maybe their archaeologists?"

"Right, bloodthirsty, zombie archaeologists."

I snorted but continued my exploration. I saw a few curious devices and started poking at buttons, jumping when some sort of alarm went off.

"Oh shit! That can't be good!"

"I swear Ryder, if this stuff kills us, I'm blaming you!"

I poked at another device, which resulted in a low humming noise that caused the structure to vibrate.

"What the hell are you doing, Ryder!?"

I opened my mouth to respond when the lights clicked on.

"Why, turning on the lights, of course," I said saucily, as if that was what I intended all along. "Looks like there's only one more room, let's check it out and get out of here."

"Best idea I've heard all day," Liam muttered to himself.

We passed through a doorway and into a rocky cavern with a huge sealed door at the other end. The door was of the same style as the pillars and towers we had previously seen.

"Were they– tunneling into another structure?"

"Sure looks that way."

We both froze as we heard an odd clicking noise when a robot popped up from the ground and started shooting at us. Liam was quickest to draw his weapon and took down the robot in just a few shots.

"Really? Murderous robots too? Can this day get any better?" I asked no one in particular.

Liam laughed, "Right?! Let's get out of here before your curiosity gets us killed."

We thought the excitement was over, I mean what are the odds of having so many near death experiences in one day? Just when we thought we were past the worst of it, we walked out of the structure and into an ambush! There were half a dozen of those aliens and their stupid invisible dog things. Liam and I worked together, he would throw a grenade and I would follow up with a biotic throw. The combination of those two attacks was deadly. We decimated them relatively quickly and took off towards the navpoint on my omnitool. As we rounded the next rock formation, we saw shuttle one and the crew working busily around it. I almost cried with relief.

"Cora! You guys are a sight for sore eyes!" She jumped a little and turned, looking nearly as relieved as I felt when she spotted us. Unfortunately, our reunion was short lived. Before we could utter another word, a drop ship tossed about a dozen of those aliens just on the other side of a shallow ditch across from us. Of course, they hadn't come to chat. No, they started shooting as soon as their feet hit the ground. Damn it! No rest for the weary. We took cover behind any boulder large enough and returned fire. Cora, Liam and I made up the bulk of the defense team. Our other two team members were Dr. Carlyle and Hayes. Obviously, the good doctor wasn't trained in combat and Hayes was our technology specialist. They did pick up their weapons and assist the best they could.

"I think that one is pissed!" Liam called out as he threw a grenade from cover.

"Why's that?" I called back mid biotic throw.

"Probably because I shot him in the face!"

In spite of the life or death nature of the situation, I couldn't help but laugh.

We had thinned out the wave of hostiles when another enemy dropship appeared.

"Are you kidding me?!" I yelled as I muttered a string of curses under my breath.

"They are insane to try an air drop in this weather!" Liam yelled out as the dropship was struck by lightning. I let out a whoop of triumph just as I was knocked over from behind. One of those cloaked dog things had snuck up on me. Liam put a few bullets in it and I finished it off with a well timed biotic nova.

"Thanks for saving my ass!" I yelled as I offered him a quick fist bump and returned to shooting anything that moved.

"Anytime!"

"I think we got their attention," Cora called out drily, followed by an, "Everyone sound off!"

"Present!" called Dr. Carlyle.

"Still here!" Hayes shouted from her position.

"Not dead yet!" I called out.

"Kicking ass and taking names!"

Nice, Liam.

I noticed that an alien larger than the others we'd encountered had joined the fray. He was massive and carried what looked like some sort of fully automatic machine gun. That thing was brutal and I could tell that it would rip through us if we got in it's way. I decided it was time for drastic measures.

"Focus on everything except that big guy, I'm going in!" I shouted as I activated my tactical cloak.

"What do you think you are doing!" Cora shouted.

"Ryder!" Liam shouted.

"Just do it!" I screamed as I did a biotic jump across the ditch and took my position behind the big guy. I slammed him to the ground, along with a few of his nearby creepy friends with my biotic nova attack, followed immediately with a double biotic throw before they noticed my cloak had faded. The biotic combo attack finished off the big guy and one of his buddies, which distracted the remaining hostiles enough that I was able to recharge my throw and toss them like rag dolls in the air. Liam and Cora took advantage of that and finished them off.

I leapt back over the ditch and up to where the team was congregated.

Liam was emptying his rifle into one of the alien corpses.

"Liam! Enough!" Cora said placatingly.

He stopped, rifle still pointed at the corpse but looked over and said, "Right, it's just that these assholes killed Kirkland!"

"I totally get where you're coming from but we need to keep our cool," I said firmly.

Shooting a few more rounds into the corpse, Liam turned back to us. "Now I feel better."

Shaking my head in exasperation, I turned back to Cora, to report on the two surviving team members and how shuttle two was in flaming pieces, when we heard Dr. Carlyle's shout from behind us. He was supporting Hayes, who had been wounded. She needed to be stabilized, and quickly. Just as we were about move her into the shuttle, I felt the electrical charge in the air intensify. Stones were floating all around us and that strange blue energy cloud started swirling. We were about to be fried.

"Take cover!" I screamed, trying to figure out how we were going to get Hayes to cover in time. Suddenly, Cora ran over and stood between the group and the energy cloud and put up the most magnificent biotic barrier I had ever seen. The lightning strikes hit it over and over again and it never faltered. I was impressed, and, perhaps, a tad bit envious. My strength has always been in my offensive biotics. My defensive biotics suck, to put it mildly.

"Whoa! I didn't know you were a biotic," Liam said, a touch of awe in his voice.

"Don't worry, it's not contagious," Cora replied drily.

Liam raised his hands in front of him in defense and took a step back, "Never said it was. I'm just impressed is all."

"Mmmhmmm," came her skeptical reply as she turned back to Hayes to assess the damage.

"Can you stabilize her?" she asked the doctor.

"Yes, for now. But we need to get her back to the Hyperion as soon as possible for proper treatment."

Hayes groaned a little from the pain but managed to say, "I was able to repair the comms before the attack."

"You are a lifesaver, now take it easy."

"SAM? Are you there?" I asked, typing comm codes into my omnitool.

"Yes, Sara. QEC link established. The pathfinder wishes to speak to you."

Dad popped up on my omnitool and explained that he had a plan to get the lightning under control so we could get back to the Hyperion safely. He sent us a navpoint and told us to meet him at those coordinates. The connection cut out as he shouted, "Damn! They spotted me!"

It was decided that Liam, Cora and I would rendezvous with dad at the navpoint. Dr. Carlyle would stay with Hayes and try to keep her condition stable. A feeling of dread washed over me, I couldn't help but worry about dad. We had seen firsthand how merciless these aliens were and he had no one to watch his six. If the rest of this day on this murderous, psychotic planet was any indication, all hell was about to break loose. Again.