Carver couldn't stop himself from putting his right hand over his mouth as he released a yawn.

It had been roughly two planetside rotations since they investigated the ruins and so far nothing else interesting has happened, at least when it came to him. There had been a few encounters with some of the wildlife, but Carver was never there when these things happened, so all he did really was hear about them.

They were interesting to hear about, and it was good to know that not everything on the planet was going to be trying to kill them, but this in the end made him think of one thing.

Butkus.

He wasn't super close to Donovan Butkus, but he was close enough to consider him a good friend. They didn't see eye to eye on everything and had a few heated arguments about mundane shit, but that didn't change their relationship in the end.

"Oi, you getting tired on me, Carver?" James inquired as he shot him a quick look which caused the one in question to cease his train of thoughts and glance at him.

"Perhaps," He answered after a while as he yawned once more before turning his gaze the window. The two of them were currently in the front seats of a Mako, a decently armored vehicle that was outfitted with a turret capable of putting holes through some of the toughest of armors and ripping through flesh and bone as if they were nothing but tissue paper.

"I didn't get much sleep last night." He added as he glanced back at James. "I just didn't seem to be tired and wouldn't fall asleep because of that."

"Ah, I see." James asserted with a few nods of his head as he rotated the wheel slightly to his right which caused the vehicle to turn to the right. "You know they have medicine for that type of stuff, right?" He pointed out as he looked at Carver once more. "If you're having some trouble sleeping you could request a few from Dr. Beller, and she'll hook you up."

"I don't need any pills to fall asleep." Carver claimed, emphasizing on the word 'pills' to make it clear as day where he stood on the matter. "And even if I did, I wouldn't take them because I doubt they'd even work." He declared a few seconds later.

"... I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that last part and assume you said something logical instead of what you actually said." James practically deadpanned.

At this, Carver shook his head slightly and rolled his eyes. He knew what he had just said was idiotic, very idiotic in fact, but his pride as a man wouldn't allow him to admit that.

With him not saying anything more on the matter, the two sat in silence until reaching their destination. Once they were there James turned the vehicle off and said as he looked towards Carver. "Alright, let's go ahead and get this shit done."

"Agreed." Carver affirmed with a nod of his head before exiting the vehicle along with James and two other marines who had been in the back seats silently listening and patiently waiting for them to reach their destination.

After they all got out, James moved to the back of the vehicle and opened the trunk to reveal several pillar like devices that were about half his height. He then averted his gaze towards Carver once more and said with a somewhat cheeky grin as he gestured to the devices. "After you."

Carver didn't say anything at first and simply took two of the objects before saying. "Don't ever do that again, the way you had said that and the look you gave was pretty fucking weird."

"It's only weird if you think it's weird," James stated as he took two of the devices out of the trunk and then moved out of the way so the two others could grab a pair too. "Now let's hurry up and go plant these things. I'm starting to get hungry and would rather not be out here all day."

"You don't need to tell me twice." Was Carver's response before the four of them moved out.

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"Anyways, if that is all you needed from me then I shall take my leave. I haven't really gotten much sleep since we've got here, and could really use it right about now." Battalion Commander Hawke stated in a slightly firm voice as he stared at Captain Yevgenny.

"Of course, thank you for the report Commander, and have a wonderful nap." Yevgenny declared in response which earned himself a nod from Hawke followed by him saying. "Sir."

He then did an about-face and walked to the exit of the room only for the door to open and reveal a woman who happened to be the head scientist onboard the Beatrix, Dr. Anders. She was in her mid-thirties with raven black hair that was short but also somewhat long. She wore a suit that was a little similar to what the Battalion Commander was wearing, but nowhere near identical.

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"Ah! Commander Hawke, apologies for-"

"It's fine, I was just leaving." He curtly interrupted as he held up his left hand to tell her to stop talking before marching past her and into the elevator that was a couple meters behind her.

He wasted no time in leaving the deck, and upon seeing the elevator doors closing, Dr. Anders frowned. "I see he's still trying to avoid me."

"Doesn't look like he's trying to, he practically is." Yevgenny claimed with a bit of smugness which prompted her to turn around and shoot him a glare.

"Thank you for the unnecessary commentary, Captain. It really brightens my day." She sarcastically stated as she finally entered the room thus causing the door to close behind her.

"Think nothing of it." He professed with the same smugness as before and a shit-eating grin.

At this, Dr. Anders rolled her eyes before saying in a much more serious tone. "Anyways, the reason why I came up here is because I have a request for you."

"And that is?" Yevgenny inquired in response as his grin vanished.

"I'd like to check out those ruins Griffin Platoon investigated two days ago." She revealed. "In order for me and my team to know more about the species that live here we need to study them, and what better way to do that than by snooping around in some old building of theirs?"

There was a silence after this declaration of hers, a decently long one.

At first, the doctor didn't mind it and assumed he was just giving it some hard thought, but after about ten seconds had come to pass she started to get a little uncomfortable.

"Captain-"

"I'm thinking, give me a minute." He told her before she could say anything more.

"It's practically a yes or no question..." She muttered under her breath as she looked elsewhere. "It shouldn't take you any longer than ten seconds to think about."

"Maybe, but you're our head scientist if something were to happen to you, then problems could arise." He stated in his defense not bothered by her annoyance to him taking his time on answering her request.

"Fair point, so just send a squad or something with me." She suggested nonchalantly. "I'm sure there are plenties who would like to check the place out."

"Three marines were lost there with one of them up and vanishing without a trace for anybody to follow. I highly doubt most would want to go to a place like that, but I could be wrong." He countered in a tone that was slightly more serious than the one he had so far been speaking in.

"Well all I can say now is nothing ventured, nothing gained." She told him with a shrug of her shoulders.

"... Indeed." He agreed after a while.

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After planting the last sensor of his down and setting it up, Carver huffed and took a step back while using his left forearm to wipe away some of the sweat he had accumulated on his forehead.

"If I knew I was going to work up a bit sweat then I would have worn my CHS." He said aloud as he hunched over a little and exhaled somewhat loudly. He had also put his hands on his knees while doing this.

His CHS, unlike the clothing he was wearing right now, was designed for all terrains, and had a built-in heater and coolant system which in a way kind of made it the best type of gear someone would want to wear when working outside.

Letting out one last huff of air, Carver straightened himself and was about to walk back to the car when he heard what sounded like a twig snapping underneath something's weight on his left.

Curious and concerned for his life, he pulled out his sidearm and immediately turned to see if he could spot whatever it was that made this noise. Unfortunately, he didn't see anything except what he saw had earlier, endless tall grass that stretched as far as the eye can see with the occasional large tree with large ass nuts hanging from them and patches of dirt.

"I know I heard something..." He told himself as he scanned the area in an attempt to find whatever had made the noise. "I don't know what it exactly was, but it definitely sounded like a stick breaking."

With him being so focused on this, Carver wasn't able to stop himself from jolting and accidentally discharging his weapon when suddenly hearing on the radio James' voice.

"You done yet, Carver?" Was what James had asked casually, but upon hearing the sound of his pistol going off in the distance, James spoke in a much more urgent manner. "Carver! Carver, you okay? What happened?"

At first, Carver didn't respond, and that was because he was far too busy calming himself down.

"I almost had a damn heart attack." He thought as he took a couple of deep breaths and felt his heart slowly steady itself once more. After it had done this, he grabbed the device that was attached to his belt, turned on the transceiver, and said in a slightly heated tone. "You! You were what happened. You suddenly contacting me like-"

Whatever else he was going to say was abruptly cut off by something wrapping around his neck and pulling him to the ground.

"Kardak." He heard from behind as he felt a hand of some sort grab ahold of his head and a pair of legs wrap around his waist to keep him from moving.

"Wha-" He began as they began to squeeze. He had put his hands on the being's assumed to be arm that was around his neck and attempted to pry it off of him but was unsuccessful in doing so.

"Kardak." The being stated once more as he continued struggling to break free from its clutches.

With his consciousness now beginning to fade on him and his strength slowly leaving him, Carver glanced to his left and saw his gun not that far from him. "I have to..." He muttered as he tried to reach for it only to feel something step on his hand and pin it to the ground, effectively stopping him from grabbing it.

"Dosh von karnak." Another voice declared that was slightly deeper than the one he had so far been hearing as whatever it was that stepped on his hand turned off its cloaking device thus revealing itself to him.

"It's..." He thought as his eyes widened and darkness started to embrace him.

"Kardak." Was the final thing he heard in a much softer tone before falling unconscious along with whatever James was saying on the radio, which was practically inaudible for him.