Oh, great caretaker, I am sending this transmission to explain the loss of the scouting team 427. The Great Expansion Empire’s mission is to set up designations of planets. This was supposed to be void of sentient life. While it was a known planet with many flora and fauna, there were no initial signs of advanced civilization. As a mission requires a developing species, there will be an assessment to eliminate or enslave.
We arrived at planet C1209 after our crew ran diagnosis, and through planetary surveillance, it was deemed a class 5 of the galactic scale. So, it would be too dangerous, but about a third of the species could live on the planet with enough supplies. Maybe it would be good training for the military unless some resources were found. My team was up for the task with acceptable risk as we had a 55% success rate. As we prepped for departure technology specialist noted that an unknown starship had just landed near the planet’s equator. The unidentified spacecraft had no signs of weapons or even advanced technology. The initial scan was not sure if it was FTL capable.
As per the directive, we landed several spans from the interloper. The landing area we chose was a clearing with tall grass-type plants. As our main landing struts landed on the soil, they started to sink and stick. As the pilot tried to add more thrust, the grass and black goo of the land began to catch on fire. Immediately high air thrust was activated, our rear strut was snapped off stuck in the earth, and we spun into the wooded area where an emergency landing was performed. No crew injured; the ship can launch the automated repairs started expecting to launch in one rotation in local standard.
As my team of 8 started to recover and get our gear ready, we picked up some sound off to the distance. It seemed to be of rhythmic pattern. It was nothing that we could identify but was too complex to be organic by our assessment. There appeared to be several howls from some organic creatures in the distance. We had activated our camouflage and prepped weapons to prepare for any of the primitives in the area. I chose the team to head to the site of the unknown ship.
As we crossed the dense foliage towards the interlopers, my lead scout had come across a small mammal that appeared to be a small mammal with black and tan coloring. I seemed to see right through our camouflage. The scout believes it may see outside the typical color spectrum as it seemed to see us very well. It then decided to hurry up one of the giant planets. As the scout looked up at the mammal, he stepped back and stepped on a legless reptile. It had struck him incredibly fast. It left two small punctures in his leg then slithered away. I looked at him, nothing seemed wrong, but a large bruise had started to develop around the bite mark.
I took up scouting and sent him to the rear. As we traveled 1/20th of a rotation, he fell to the ground. We surrounded him and took up security positions. The medic and I looked at our friend; his eyes started to go white. The physician pointed out that the muscle in the leg had been dissolved from the inside. The physician began to perform emergency procedures. A large crack had happened from our north security point. I quickly rushed over to the sound and found one of my techs crushed under one of the big plants. One of the broken branches had skewered him through his torso. There was nothing that could be done. I took his tag, Tech specialist Jorn 3490, which has expired.
As I returned to the physician, he handed the tag Scout Kurv 7493, and his whole body had shut down. I entered the official archive that this planet needed to be reclassified to class 6. In less than one cycle, two of my party had already died. While we knew this would be hard, this was against the normal. I signaled for the team to get back into formation. We will work on sneaking up on the unknown ship. We ate and rested in the atmosphere while in a good area; the temperature was at the edges of our tolerance. As we ate small back flying insects started to attack us. While this was not an attack that showed intelligence, the swarm was quite painful. We quickly moved away from the area they did not pursue, but we all suffered small bites in several locations.
As we moved forward, we finally came upon the ship of the unknown it was in red as the dark suns. There seemed to be several creatures moving boxes into a small shelter. The shelter seemed to be made of the large plants of the area. There were two midsize four-leg creatures with heavy coats of fur. They seemed to be following a small species with only hair on its head. It was bipedal but not much taller than the other two. It seemed to be making some sounds, and it seemed to be bringing boxes into the shelter. The two furry ones seemed to follow and bounce behind it. Then a giant creature came out of the shelter. It was large, 1.75 meters tall, and seemed to have fur on top of its head and around its maw.
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I decided to keep my team as back as far as possible. Leaving a recording box nearby to help judge how to proceed. As I gathered the group, we decided that nighttime could be better to get closer. I had hoped that these creatures had a sleep cycle. As we waited, we took shifts on security.
In contrast, one of my techs observed the animals through the viewing box. One of the four-legged ones had come up to the recording box and seemed to lift a leg where it used a high level of acid on it. The recording box was well built but would need us to recover it soon to keep it operatable. I sent the tech and a scout together to recover it.
The scout had returned to us after a short time. The scout was in shock. She was covered in blood. As the physician and I approached the scout, she had collapsed onto the ground. As I questioned the scout, all she could say is “It came from above. It is in the sky.” She repeatedly repeated till she handed over the tech tag, Technician Ksun 8911, then passed out. I moved all team members into a tight nit defense with this information. As the evening started to take over, the sky turned a gray color.
The scout finally came through and was able to speak. From what could be understood, some large avian went out of the sky, attacked the tech, and ripped him to shreds. She could barely retrieve the tag before the flying monster took a portion back to wherever it came from. I decided this to be pertinent information, so it was documented and classified as a class 7.
I have decided to take only two with me and leave the physician and the traumatized scout behind. As I moved with one scout and tech left, we decided to move light, only active camouflage and weapons. We moved silently and swiftly we approached the shelter. The creatures were sitting or lying around a blazing fire where they had the flesh of some animal being cooked over it. The scout became aggravated and fired their weapon. It stuck the largest of the creatures in the back of the neck. The beast then slapped the impact spot. It said something guttural to the smaller one. To our surprise, it got up, went over to a blue and white box, got some kind of medicine in a cylinder metal container and drank it, and sat back down.
The scout made a slight growl. The large human got out of its seat with fantastic speed. It picked up a stone that fits in its hand and threw it towards the scout. The scout was smart enough to move from its location. It did not help as the stone hit a plant with incredible speed and even bounced. This creature, no, this demon had sent this projectile with such speed that it still caught the scout in the back of its brain housing casing and shattered it. A monster that could throw with such force and accuracy would see a fleeing scout. I made over to my fallen companion, where I could get the tag, Scout Hriv 8847; this was more damage than he had seen in the last great war. I noted this world is now a level 8, and we will need to leave as soon as possible.
As I was about to signal to the tech medium size furry creature had bitten into her and started to run away with her. I pursued, but the creature was fast but also very quiet. The stories of legends we would tell our children. As I almost caught up, the beast dragged it up a large plant using its powerful claws to attack its way up with the tech in its mouth. I found the tag, Tech Gris 4047; I knew there would be no recovery. We needed to leave now.
As I ran back to the remaining members of the scout team, there was a herd of giant beasts. They were vast and powerful and ran in the same direction as my team. They seemed to be just running through the area, not attacking but a river of muscles, fur, and horns. Once I got to the location, the last of my team was mashed into the dirt. I recovered the tags, Physician Tro 6779 and Scout Pram 6608, which could not be identified. I gathered the recording device, which was damaged, but any information was needed.
I will use the ship’s recall; while this is not advised with other sapiens nearby, I knew I would never make it back to the ship otherwise. As the ship landed close, I ran to the ramp. Then there was howling. It appeared to be coming from all directions and getting closer. I could not see anything, but I could hear the howls of the ground being shuffled by feet. So many of them were from everywhere, Moving fast, and they seemed to be coming from all locations. I just needed to make it to the ship as it was doing its final touchdown. Right before I was able to get into the ship, I saw one of the monsters. It was similar to the others we had seen earlier. Four legs, fur, but its jaws were snapping for me as I jumped into the hatch, hitting the emergency close. There scratching started to damage the hatch of the ship.
I ran to the flight deck and hit the auto flight control. As the ship took off for space's safety of the void, I felt my body become exhausted. I never thought of freedom as space, but anywhere was better than there. As I sit on the ship waiting to get back to headquarters, I have tried to get the recording device. It was significantly damaged, but it had one phrase from the larger creature. Looking over records, I classify that this planet is class 10 death world shall be named “Vacation” as for it has been said by the demons.