3:45 AM Shipboard Time, Scout Ship Horizon.

"Lo, How much longer? We've been flying for days now." Ethan sighed, the others were asleep, and Ethan wanted nothing more than to sleep for the rest of existence.

"Another few hours Ethan." Luis replied tiredly, running his hands through his hair.

"Hey you can sleep if you want. I can keep watch." Ethan suggested, he may have been tired but he knew that Luis was more exhausted than he was.

"No... I can stay awake until we hit orbit." Ethan stood, his suit clunking from the weight of itself, and he put a hand on Luis's armored shoulder.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should Lo... Get some rest, you have to lead us tomorrow." Luis looked over at the Steel colored eyes of his comrade and smiled.

"Alright Ethan. You're right..." He trialed off and slowly got up out of the captains chair, Ethan took his place, and looked over the team.

Luis, intelligent, careful, and good leader, but sometimes couldn't take good care of himself.

Dennis, Old convict, Muscular, Hardcore, Also an asshole at times, but deep down he was sure he did actually care.

Troy, Observant, quiet and calculative, Ethan thought to himself that if you ever wanted to be scared of someone, Troy would be the one.

Rio, Family man, good heart, but a little unintelligent, he joined after his family was killed by the Harvesters.

And himself, Reckless, Careless, Joined willingly to protect his family and little brother whom he had only seen when he was a baby. He was probably the oldest of them, he was starting to get grey hair.

He turned back to the window to watch as he saw Sara Mar grow closer, it would be another hour in stealth mode for them to reach orbit.

The planet itself was at one point a barren moon of it's parent planet, but it was consumed completely by the Harvesters and only large chunks of the planet now float endlessly through space.

Now, it is a good place for The Duke's rich pals to wait out the war, or in this case, The Duke's rich critic.

Like expected there was a station full of Confederate forces in low orbit of the moon.

The ship creaked to a stop and he wondered for a moment if he should let them all sleep, but he sighed and woke up Luis first.

"Hey... We're here Lo." He whispered in the darker man's ear, and Luis slowly opened his eyes and stretched, looking up at Ethan Gratefully.

"Thank you Ethan, I needed that." Luis stood up and looked over his sleeping team before stomping on the floor loudly.

Everyone tried jumping up a once, and that only resulted in a lot of yelling, screaming, and bruised heads.

"Alright everyone settle down!" Luis ordered the team and slowly the group found their footing and settled.

"We're here for Travis Valcrum, We are not here to abduct or kill, just to persuade him to come with us back home, so keep your nose clean." He looked a Dennis and Troy, patted Rio on the shoulder and they went into full cloaking mode.

In another hour they were landing on the brown, barren surface. It was night, and the air was thin.

They step out with their headlamps on, Ethan and Lo taking the front of the group, Troy and Dennis taking the middle, and Rio on the tail.

"I don't like how quiet it is..." Dennis said quietly, his helmet closed to support his breathing, as were all the others.

"Yeah... there should be Confederate forces." Ethan pointed out, before he stepped on something that cracked and squished under the weight of his suit.

He looked down onto a Harvester carcass, it's exoskeleton cracking under his boot.

"Oh shit." Ethan started to panic, Troy looked around and raised his rifle, scanning for movement, while Luis turned on his motion detector.

At first there were five beeps, enough For each of them, then six, seven, twenty, thirty, fifty... one hundred....and it kept going, Luis lit a flare and threw it in front of them.

Before it even landed, he knew their grave error.

In the light of the flare, mandibles clacked And teeth drooled, the light had blinded them for only a second, but they were quickly recovering, their four armored legs and huge arms covered in spikes, and three eyes staring right at them.

There were so many, like a sea of death, they let out a horrible choking roar and charged forward, and in that instant the sound of five separate rifles shooting all they held cracked through the air.

"We need through, Valcrum's private hub is another three miles through them!" Luis shouted, and Ethan looked at the rest of his team.

"Form a circle! Then follow my lead!" No one hesitated, they formed a circle while still firing at the hideous Harvesters, and Ethan slowly moved through the crowd, carving a path for them to get through.

The rest followed, and after what seemed like an endless assault there was a break in the swarm and each one booked it, all running in the same direction...

After running for what felt like hours, they stopped finally to catch their breath.

"Fuck... Why are they here?" Ethan asked first, leaning against a rock and trying to catch his breath.

"I didn't see any queen in orbit... They must have gotten left behind after the main planet got consumed." Luis replied, looking around and reloading his rifle.

"Great! So what now?! Valcrum is probably dead, Our ship is through that swarm, and we have no rations!" Dennis yelled, punching a rock and leaving a crack in it.

"I assure you gentlemen, I am not dead." a voice came through their comms, And immediately Luis answered.

"Travis Valcrum?"

"Speaking. And those Harvesters came from those Confederate Idiots up at the Station, they broke out of containment, it won't be long until the entire planet is overrun." Rio looked at Troy, who immediately put a hand on his shoulder and answered Valcrum.

"You sound like you have a plan."

"You would be right, come to these coordinates, I will explain everything." The comms beeped and the call ended, and Ethan chuckled.

"Well then, let's start walking."