"Let me make this clear; this mission has already claimed the lives of the GSC Xerxes. We are fighting against an unknown force." General Felix rubbed his nose and looked around the troops before him. "What you all must remember, before I brief you, is that you are soldiers. You are trained for this. No enemy can stand before you."

Ravin smiled as her squad hooted and cheered. She laughed for a second before turning and putting a finger to her lips. The squad fell silent.

"Here is what we know: at 10:00 hours the GSC Xerxes sent a transmission to high command. They had found the smuggling vessel Terra deep in the Eden quadrant. Upon confirmation the began pursuit and were soon fired upon. In retaliation Captain Fredrichson returned the insult. The Terra was hit badly and withdrew to nearby planet EVE. This planets specifics will be in the report you hold."

Ravin threw open the red folder to look at the specifics. The general went on.

"At 03:00 hours we lost contact with the crew of the Xerxes. The last transmission was particularly troubling. You may have read in your file that the planet has no apparent, life threatening carnivores. We now belief this information to be false. We say this because upon breakdown of the last transmission we heard a strange background noise."

The general turned to a soldier behind him and nodded. The soldier stiffened and saluted before pressing a switch to his side. Immediately a loud screeching noise was heard all around them. The screech led into a roar and stopped suddenly as gunshots were heard. Chattering erupted from the soldiers and hand flew up. The general showed his palm and the room fell silent.

"We don't know what the creature is or what it looks like. We believe that the screeching is not coming from it, but happens before it appears. This has lead us to speculate that the creature can morph. Or that it can materialise, like the bugs of Hidra in the Titan quadrant..."

"Yeah but the bugs of the Hidra quadrant are tiny. I ain't never seen a damn fly kill a squad." Came a voice from behind Ravin. A few men laughed. Obviously voices of mercenaries drafted for the mission.

Ignoring this the General continued.

"For this reason we have drafted extra help for this mission, mercenaries are to provide fire support for our own squads. I don't need to tell you that this information is classified. This is all I can tell you." The general stood up straight and saluted. The marines followed in his example. "Till death becomes us!" Chanted the general with a proud grin.

"We don't fear it; we are death!" The room called back.

Ravin had just a few minutes to talk to her squad before they boarded the ship. She took the time to give them a pep talk. After all, they'd be the first on the ground. She rounded on them just outside of the hatch. Other marines poured onto their separate drop-ships beside them even as she spoke.

"I know that this isn't what you want to hear." She bowed her head. "You don't want to hear that we are up against impossible odds, or that we can't do it. The fact is that whatever we are fighting took down the Xerxes." She raised her head showing a wide smile, "but we're not teh Xerxes. We are Hercules and we don't fear dearth, we are death! So whatever waits for us down there better be digging a hole. Move out."

Her troops piled onto their own shuttle named 'Hermes'. Ravin gave a grin and strapped herself in. She held up her hand and signaled ready to the drop-master. She spread her hand wide and curled them down one after the other. 5, 4, 3, 2... 1. The pressure in the room pinned them to their seats. Ravin looked through the narrow slit of a window beside her. Flames licked up around them. Within a few seconds she could see a flicker of green and gold. EVE was coming into view. They were nearing the ground at an incredible speed. She knew that the second they touched down another drop-ship would be let go. Even so, the thought of being there alone was both thrilling and terrifying.

Ravin closed her eyes upon before impact. She felt her body react to the pressure. Her head felt as though it would pop. Without thought she rose to her feet and pulled up her hand to signal the others to do the same. She them opened the hatch and led the way out. She held up her pulse rifle and looked down the scope scanning the scenery before her. She heard her squad file down behind her and pressed the comms button on her helmet.

"This is Ravin. Touchdown confirmed. Preparing to green in." She turned to count her squad and counted them. One was missing.

She signaled for them to make a perimeter and entered the Hermes. A soldier was sat in a seat halfway down. A trickle of blood hung at his lips. Ravin felt his pulse, he was dead. The impact must have broken his neck. This wasn't uncommon, especially with the replacements and new droppers. Ravin heard a voice behind her.

"Poor bastard. These baby-droppers don't stand a chance." Ravins lieutenant was stood in the doorway. His uniform was thickly-built armor used for the heavy weapons.

"What's the word, Jones?" Asked Ravin ignoring his last words. Nick Jones had always taken his job less-seriously than others.

"All clear, sir. Successful perimeter formed. I'm sending snipers to the surrounding ridge now."

Ravin nodded approval then connected with Hercules once more. "This is Tan squad greening in. Perimeter set and held."