His body ached extensively as he regained consciousness but Jason was thankful for the ridiculous money spent on the Blue Raven body armour. The millions of credits invested in this state of the art suit had absorbed the majority of the impact from the fall off the cliff. Opening his eyes, his irises adjusted to the stars peering through the trees. Seeing the broken branches above him, it wasn't just his armour that had absorbed the majority of the impact.

His HUD came to life as he coughed briefly. Trying to ignore the bruising on his back and torso, he studied the information that appeared. His body was in good health, despite the shock it was enduring, to ease his body further, the suit injected some painkillers into his bloodstream. Within moments, he would be back to normal as if nothing had happened.

Studying the fall, he was grateful for the investment the USM ploughed into their special forces. If he had been wearing standard body armour, the fall would have crushed him like a grape.

The HUD displayed other relevant information. His location, which was where he was expecting to be, and communication, which was non-existent. Something was interfering with all communications within the area.

Jason started to lift himself off the floor. The various sounds that echoed through the forest were somewhat spectacular. The whistles and calls from some of the creatures within the forest seemed like some bizarre orchestral piece of music. It sounded so alien, yet so fulfilling, it made Jason's body feel more alive and blissful than he had ever felt before.

A predator in the distance roared aggressively, shaking the ground around Jason and bringing him back to reality. The briefing had clearly stated that the forest floor was an extremely dangerous environment to be in, with a ninety-eight percent death rate for soldiers that found themselves in the forest for more than forty-eight hours.

That statistic was enough to determine his next task, survive and get out of the forest.

Pressing a few buttons on his wrist, he set to the task to find the quickest route to the nearest FOB. As it was calculating the route, Jason heard a rustle in a nearby bush.

Looking down he noticed his rifle was missing, so grabbing his holster, he raised his pistol that was strapped securely to his hip.

Expecting to see some carnivorous beast jump out from the bush, he placed his finger on the trigger, ready to fire in an instant. What exited the bush was not what he expected.

The Ceti's long limbs allowed him to stride into view, focusing solely on the pistol that was focused on him. With his sceptre fully open it looked like the Ceti was ready for combat.

Jason sighed, he knew another fight against this battle-hardened killing machine was out of the question. He was quicker, stronger and more experienced in the art of warfare than Jason, and by the way the Ceti was moving, the fall had not slowed him down either.

'If I must die, then let it be in a blaze of glory,' Jason thought to himself.

Just as Jason was about to squeeze the trigger, the Ceti's sceptre retracted to its staff form and the Ceti raised his hands in a non-hostile way.

"Krob'har, truce," the Ceti said in a harsh deep broken voice.

Jason slowly raised his hand to his visor and pressed it to reveal his face. "Truce?" He asked, almost confused that the Ceti would know the word.

"Truce, Yes. Forest dangerous." The Ceti commented. "You, me, separate, die. You, me, together, survive."

Jason couldn't deny the logic of his words. If he were to survive in this forest then his chances were far greater with this Ceti assisting him. Lowering his pistol he frowned but commented, "Agreed, truce."

The Ceti appeared to relax his posture and Jason placed his pistol back on his hip. "Krob'har, name?" The Ceti asked.

"Jason Scharn, and yours?"

"The mother guide you Jason Scharn, I am Voshtek K'Or"

travelling south, the unlikely companions trudged through the forest in hopes of finding suitable neutral ground for each other to part ways. Jason knew his orders were to take Voshtek K'Or into custody but there was no way he would betray the Ceti that could have quite easily killed him. In his mind, they would reach their destination, go their separate ways and tomorrow they would be enemies again.

His counterpart strode forward with purpose, hacking down the vines that were in their way with ease. He was always alert, constantly on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary and stopping at the slightest sound that appeared peculiar. Jason had noticed the sounds too but had considered them to be nothing more than background noise. It either meant that this Ceti was nervous, or his senses were far superior.

"You speak our language well." Jason commented, making small talk.

"Important to study enemy, no?" Voshtek replied with a certain dignity.

There was no emphasis on the word enemy, but it brought a reality to their temporary alliance.

"I agree, though I've never had the opportunity to study your language. You've called me Krob'har, what does that mean?" Jason asked.

"Krob'har, highest honour, Krob'har death bringer. You Blue Raven, you death bringer, you Krob'har."

Jason smiled as the soldier he had struggled to engage in combat had the same fear and respect for him.

Just as Jason was to respond in kind, Voshtek stopped suddenly and looked briskly to his right. There was little to no sound apart from the whistling of the wind through the trees.

Perhaps it was the lack of sound that was of concern.

His movement was like a meerkat, something Jason had never seen before but admired. Voshtek's body was upright and focused, ready to scurry at an instant. His long boned head swivelled around focusing on something that could not be seen.

Jason started to feel tense, there was something there. Initially, it sounded like a very faint drone but as he concentrated on that sound he realised that the drone was actually a deep growl, a growl likely from one of the planet's dangerous predators.

As the three fingers of the Ceti gripped harder on the sceptre, Jason knew it was time to prepare for an attack.

The growl turned to a roar as the creature sprang out from the bushes and started to encircle its prey like a panther. Its moonlight coloured fur glistened in the patched sunlight as it carefully studied the unlikely companions. It hissed towards them with its long pointed snout displaying its large set of incisors, as it did, around its neck a large frill fluttered angrily showing that the creature was likely to attack soon.

"Vorporin, be careful, very deadly." Voshtek instructed.

Having done his research on the planet's wildlife before arriving, Jason knew the Vorporin was an apex predator and information on it was extremely limited as no one had survived the three encounters with these fearsome creatures. This was about to be a battle for survival.

The Vorporin jumped towards Voshtek, swiping its tail wildly as it missed its prey. Voshtek had spun away and tried to counterattack but the creature's agility matched his own.

Jason tried to use the creature's attention on Voshtek to his advantage and struck viciously at the Vorporin's torso. He made contact, but it was minimal and now the attention of the creature's five eyes was focused squarely on him. It hissed at him again baring its teeth once more.

Bracing himself for the assault, Jason stood sideways to give himself the best chance to avoid any swipe from the Vorporin's paws. Instead, the Vorporin spat at him leaving a large glob of black mucus covering his visor. It took mere milliseconds for the visor to switch to an alternative visual band and as Jason's eyes adjusted from the brief blindness the Vorporin was already at full flight towards him.

He sidestepped, but not quick enough, being pushed flat on his back by the creature.

Voshtek engaged the beast to draw its attention away from Jason and allow him to get up off the floor. Even with Voshtek's impressive reaction time and agility he was struggling to contend with the beast as it pounced in, sideways and out again, swiping at every opportunity with paws the size of a human head.

Jason was ready to assist in the fight. Hopefully, with both of them attacking, they would be a match against the Vorporin. As Jason was ready to aid the Ceti, he felt a sharp sting in his left shoulder. As he looked down he watched as the tail of a second Vorporin slid from between his shoulder and his armour. It had penetrated the armour-like paper and within moments he had lost all feeling apart from the excruciating pain in his left shoulder and his upper arm. His HUD went crazy, flashing various warnings and mentions of a host of foreign bodies in his bloodstream.

As he turned, another Vorporin appeared. It appeared they hunted in packs. As the two new animals hissed and snarled at their prey, Jason fell to the floor. His motor functions were gradually dispelling and all he could do was lie on the floor helpless.

He wanted to shout towards Voshtek to give warning of the two new threats that were beginning to stalk him but he was unable to utter a sound.

As his eyes gradually closed the last thought in his mind was whether he would open them again and have the opportunity to see his colleague and friend who he was already missing dearly. Jacqueline Donnelly.