Aiden hissed in pain. His Ghost was frantically trying to repair his near-severed arm. Pumping the trigger of his Hard Light, he grimaced. Something was wrong with it. Laboriously pressing the magazine release and popping the magazine out, he squinted down into the weapon. Groaning, he tossed it aside. The receiver was bend to the side, stopping the polymerized bullets from reaching the barrel and firing mechanism. He could fix it, but he'd need both time, a worktable, and both of his arms. Reaching to his hip, he quietly slid the Vestian Dynasty into his hand and held it shakily in his intact hand.

His ghost beeped, and then spoke: "There's a message from Andromedai. She's calling for a rendezvous near the fallen shuttle. I can make a nav marker for you, but you should wait for me to fix that arm before you move.

Aiden nodded tightly and heard a beep as the small gray-and-white marker appeared on his heads-up display. "Thanks, Ghost," he muttered. 

---

Perhaps ten minutes later, his arm was working again. Still holding his Vestian Dynasty (lacking in any heavy ammunition), he began to move towards the map marker, squinting through the ever-increasing snowblindness. His eyes suddenly flicked towards the motion tracker, which was lighting up all around him in varying shades of red. Swearing colourfully, he switched on his comm system.

"Hey, if anyone can hear me, it's Aiden-12. I'm about 250 meters off, surrounded by hostiles, presumably Fallen. Primary weapon nonfunctional. I may have problems, so any reinforcements would be much appreciated. Over." Readying his handgun, he waited in silence.

There was a glowing blue light off to his right and he swung around, rolling only a foot underneath the flashing bolt of blue light and coming up with his barrel pointed at a Vandal. Squeezing the trigger four times, he dropped the Vandal. Rushing over to the creature's body, he grabbed the wire rifle and armed it, checking the ammunition. Only three shots left in it. All idea of stealth abandoned, he sprinted towards Andromedai's campsite. Bolts of blue energy and shards of shrapnel flashed by, occasionally bouncing against his projected shield. He gritted his teeth, turning and taking a quick shot with the wire rifle into a Captain's head, barely taking down his arc shield.

About 140 meters off from Andromedai's beacon, he slipped in the snow, losing his footing and a split second of time. Immediately, a burning blue bolt of arc energy blew through his head and he collapsed to the ground. His ghost floated above him, broadcasting a wide signal across all of his ally's arrays. Just two words:

"Guardian down!"