As the shuttle descended to the planet, Carver and the rest of the marines experienced a constant shaking. It was nowhere near what they had experienced onboard the Beatrix when the Slipspace drive suddenly started failing on them, but it was something similar to that.

"You know, despite what has happened so far, I honestly can't help but be excited for this shit we're about to do." James declared in a somewhat serious tone. "Like, yeah it sucks we got attacked and our ship took a beating, but we're about to go check out an unknown planet, so I kind of want to say it was worth it."

"I don't think it was, Vargas." Riley stated with a shake of his head. "We don't know who or what lives on this planet, and for all we know our ship might not be repairable, which would then make us stranded in this system with a group of beings that will probably want to kill us and then eat us."

"That wasn't very optimistic of you, Riley," Carver claimed as he straightened himself. He was sitting across from Riley and on the left of James and had so far been quiet until now.

"On the contrary, it was." Riley denied as he averted his gaze towards Carver. "You see, I'm optimistic that what I just said will happen, so therefore it was optimistic."

At this, Carver just shook his head while rolling his eyes as some of those who were silently listening chuckled.

"Alright, well when you point that shit out, then I'm of course gonna have to agree with you, but c'mon man, you can't tell me that you're not the least bit excited, right? I mean after all, we're going to be the first set of humans to set foot on this planet so doesn't that excite you in any sort of way?" James inquired as the snickering died out.

"... I'd rather sleep than investigate this planet, Vargas." Riley revealed after several seconds of silence, which earned a chorus of laughter from his peers, and a disappointing look from James.

"Approaching LZ, everyone get ready!" Came the shuttle pilot's voice through the intercom as James went on to say that Riley had no spirit of adventure.

At this, Carver's First Sergeant, Andras Tarkov, stood up and said in an authoritative manner. "You heard the man! Everyone check your gear and make sure there are no problems because I do not want, and I repeat, do not want any casualties because of faulty equipment! And if you do somehow manage to die because you failed to make sure everything was in order then I will literally skull fuck you! Am I understood marines?" 

"Yes, First Sergeant!" The marines affirmed before beginning their final gear check which included a weapons check, a comms check, and a suit check.

"Mhm, that's what I like to hear." The First Sergeant declared in an approving manner before beginning his own gear check.

"Deep, your comms got a bit static." One of the marines reported on the comms as Carver examined his pistol and made sure everything about it was in order.

"Got it!" The man who went by the nickname Deep answered before asking three seconds later. "That better?"

"Perfect." The marine who had told him this information confirmed as Carver finished checking his pistol and went on to check his suit and then his helmet's comms.

It wasn't long after Carver finished doing his equipment check he heard the pilot once more on the intercom. "LZ reached, opening shuttle doors now!"

With that declaration made, the shuttle's doors opened, and upon it doing so, the platoon XO shouted to the marines as he motioned for them to exit through one of the doors. "Alright let's go, everyone out!"

Not needing to be told a second time, Carver followed James out of the shuttle and fell roughly about three meters before finally having a chance to see the planet. "Whoa." He gaped upon seeing a beautiful scenery that could not be easily described with mere words, which had caused him to slowly lower his rifle and begin to take everything in.

"And we're sure this isn't Earth like two hundred years ago?" A marine asked on the comms in a joking manner as Carver continued to take in the colorful and vibrant scenery.

"If this is what Earth looked like two hundred years ago, then we've killed the shit out of our homeworld." James stated in a slightly serious tone.

"Agreed, I don't see any smog here." The marine declared in an affirmative manner.

"Cut the chatter you two." First Sergeant Tarkov ordered which was followed by the two of them complying as he turned around and looked up at the shuttle that was now beginning to slowly descend onto the ground. "You're not going back up, Lieutenant?" He inquired with a trace of confusion in his voice as the vessel touched down on the soil below.

"I was, but then I got an alert about how one of the doors are not fully closed, so I gotta fix that first." The pilot explained as he deactivated the shuttle. "Don't worry though, it shouldn't take me long, you guys just do what you have to do and check this place out."

"Understood, we'll see you in two hours then." Tarkov affirmed before directing his gaze back towards the abundance of trees and plants.

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Meanwhile, on the Beatrix, Captain Yevgenny stared out into space with a solemn expression. He had just gotten a list of all systems that were down right now, and boy was it a big list.

"This really isn't our day." He thought as his lips curved a little downwards into that of a small frown. "Not only is our slipspace drive down, but so is our fucking long-range communication tower as well."

It was one thing if their slipspace drive was down, but to have that and the thing that allowed them to send a message deep through space was another thing itself.

"Sir, Chief Engineer Pressly is outside and would like to have a word with you." Came a feminine voice through the intercom which made the Captain avert his gaze from the window and to the device the voice came out of.

With a tired sigh escaping his mouth, he walked over to the device and said after pushing the button that would transmit his voice. "Send him in."

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"Yes, sir." She affirmed.

It wasn't long after she obeyed his command the door to his room opened and Chief Engineer Pressly came marching in while saying with utmost urgency in his voice. "Captain, sir I have something you need to hear."

"What is it?" Yevgenny queried in response as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and shot him an inquisitive look.

"Besides one of our engines being down and our slipspace drive not working properly, I've detected some problems with our Life Support System." Chief Engineer Pressly gravely revealed as he offered Yevgenny the datapad that he was holding in his right hand.

Yevgenny didn't say anything at first, and simply took the datapad from him. In it, it showed that not only was the Oxygen Generation System failing, but also the Air Pressure Control System, and the Air Temperature Regulators.

He read over the notes that had been written down for each section before handing it back to the Chief Engineer and saying with slightly narrowed eyes. "Why wasn't I informed of this earlier, Pressly?"

"Well, that's because there didn't seem to be any problems earlier, sir," Pressly stated in response with a small frown written on his face. "It just now started to have problems, so I came to report it myself." He then added.

"I see," Yevgenny declared before asking the obvious. "Can you fix it?"

"Aye, but there are some complications, sir." He hesitantly revealed which earned himself a slow eyebrow raise from his superior.

"What kind of complications?" Yevgenny inquired in a serious tone that had a hint of curiosity in it.

"Well, you see sir, we just don't have enough resources to repair everything. Most of our tools and spare parts were destroyed in the battle so I can only repair a handful of things and even then sir, I won't even be able to fully repair them." Pressly claimed in a solemn demeanor.

If Yevgenny's expression wasn't one of seriousness, then it was one now. "What are you suggesting we do then?" He questioned in a grave voice with furrowed brows. He didn't like what he was hearing so far, so Yevgenny was secretly hoping he had a solution for him.

At this, Chief Engineer Pressly simply averted his gaze to his window that had the planet in it.

Yevgenny saw his attention shift and followed his gaze, but after seeing what he was looking at, he couldn't stop himself from saying, "you can't be serious."

The disbelief in his voice was real, but Chief Engineer Pressly didn't seem to care for it, and instead asked. "Does it look like I'm joking?"

To which Yevgenny said with a small shake of his head. "You don't look like it."

"Because I'm not. Look, we don't really have a choice in the matter, sir. It's either we land on the planet and take our chances down there, or float around up here and eventually die." Pressly asserted with his serious expression still written on his face.

At this, Yevgenny remained silent and pondered the two options. The thought of landing the ship on this unknown planet troubled him greatly, but the mere thought of slowly dying up here was making it clear that he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

"I don't like it if I'm being honest here, but if we truly don't have any other options in this matter, then I guess we're gonna do what you're suggesting. It won't be easy, but then again nothing really ever is." Yevgenny stated after about a minute of quietly weighing his options.

"Aye, it won't be, but our chances are a whole lot better down there than it is sitting up here and slowly dying, sir." Chief Engineer Pressly insisted.

"Yeah, I'll inform the crew about what's going to happen in a little, in the meantime repair what you can, preferably the Life Support Systems." Yevgenny informed as he put a hand on Pressly's shoulder.

"Aye, sir!" He acknowledged with a stiff salute which he received in return by Captain Yevgenny, although his salute was slightly more relaxed.

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Meanwhile, back down on the planet's surface, Carver felt a little antsy. It had been roughly twenty minutes since they left the shuttle and started walking through the woods to their destination, and so far they have yet to encounter any sort of had heard a few things that they could only assume were creatures, but as for seeing them, that was a whole other story.

As for where they were going, they were going to what appeared to be a ruins of some sort. Carver, of course, wasn't sure what it was for he didn't see it, but his platoon CO had, and he was the one that claimed it looked like some kind of old structure.

"It shouldn't be much farther," Carver's superior declared on the comms as he stepped over an old log. "Just a little further, and we should be there."

"Copy that." First Sergeant Tarkov acknowledged along with the squad leaders.

After this was all said and done, James, who was pretty much walking alongside Carver said in a somewhat hushed voice. "Hey Carver, can I ask you something?"

At this, Carver gave him a simple reply. "Go for it."

"Why exactly did we land in that clearing when the place we're going is supposedly some ancient structure?" He inquired in the same low tone but with a bit firmness in it this time that showed he was being earnest.

"You're asking the wrong person that question, but I do also wonder that as well." Carver claimed as he tilted his head back slightly and scanned the trees for any signs of life.

"... You think I should ask the LT?" James questioned after a few seconds of silence.

Carver upon hearing this laughed through his nose which came out as a snorting noise. "If you want to, then go for it. I sure as hell ain't gonna stop you."

James once again stayed silent, but it wasn't that long after Carver had told him this, he broke his silence by placing his hand on the transmitter on the right side of his head where his ear was and saying. "Hey, Lieutenant, is it alright if I ask you a serious question?"

"What is it, Vargas?" Their superior questioned in a solemn tone.

"Nothing much, I'm just curious as to why we're walking through this forest when the place we're going is some ancient structure." James stated in a nonchalant manner. Meanwhile, Carver merely shook his head in a disapproving fashion after giving James a sideways look.

"Because this gives us a chance to see the wildlife." Their platoon CO asserted before quickly following it up with, "and because it's been a good while since I felt the ground beneath my feet."

"So far we haven't seen shit, sir." A marine named Edward Bisenti announced which was something Carver silently agreed with.

"Yeah, so far I haven't seen anything but trees, plants, Luna, and Butkus." Another marine whose name was Alfredo Diaz asserted. "I've heard things, but I haven't seen anything besides what I just said."

"Noted, now cut the chatter." Their Lieutenant ordered immediately. "Just because we haven't seen anything does not mean nothing is out there. For all we know we're being stalked right now by a predator of some sort."

Although Carver highly doubted this was happening, he did not voice his opinion. Instead, he remained mute and continued to keep a lookout for any sort of creature.

He, unfortunately and fortunately, didn't see anything, but upon reaching their destination, he and every other marine that walked out of the ocean of trees were finally able to see one of the creatures that dwelled on this planet.

It was a large and somewhat colorful creature that was similar to that of a rhino, but somewhat bigger with a head that looked like that of a hammerhead shark. Its body was grey and sage-like, and on the sides of its six legs were patches of hair.

Most of the reactions upon sighting this animal were either ones filled with shock and astonishment, or simple one-worded sentences like, "Whoa!"

As for Carver, he was one of those who couldn't hide his astonishment and muttered to himself. "What is that?"

It was kind of hideous in his eyes, but also in a weird way beautiful. He didn't know why he found it to be beautiful, but he did which was strange to him.

It didn't seem to notice them, at least not at first, but after a little while the creature glanced at them and made a snorting noise before walking away and into the woods which was something most of them weren't expecting. Because of the thing's size, the majority of the marines were expecting it to be territorial, but instead, it seemed docile and cared little for them before going on its way.

Once it was gone, First Sergeant Tarkov said aloud as he lowered his rifle. "Well, that was an interesting thing to see."

No sooner did he utter these words though were they attacked.