Hoplite had tried to ease the landing, but these shuttles weren’t made for gentle groundings. They were exceptionally sturdy, so he didn’t worry too much about it sustaining any damage. The only downside to this hard landing was that any nearby enemies would hear it from a mile away, possibly more. He supposed that his allies could have as well, but odds were that the Final Kind would find him first. It was safe to assume that the Dragon had pumped out more pods than the Sparrow.

The grassy clearing he had aimed for was split in twain by the crashing pod, kicking up moist soil and sending thousands of grass blades soaring through the air. He could feel his teeth rattle in his skull from the impact as the shuttle slid into the forest after landing. It punched through half a dozen trees and sent them crashing to the forest floor, sending wooden shrapnel flying. Finally it slid to a stop, the nose tilting the last tree forward at an angle.

Hoplite stood from his seat as soon as the pod stopped, approaching the sealed metal doors and pressing the keypad next to it. They slid open with a groan as Hoplite grabbed a nearby shotgun, emerging from the pod and scanning the surrounding forest for hostiles. When he spotted none, he eased up, bumping his chin to check for any nearby radio signals. If there were any signals within a ten mile radius, his suit would pick up on and play them automatically, allowing him to switch between each signal it detected. That included any sort of emergency distress beacons that would play from nearby Ternan shuttles. He had turned his shuttles beacon on already in case any allies nearby would be able to pick up on it.

He bumped his chin, seeing a display pop up in the corner of his screen that read: NO SIGNAL. No beacons, and as for any potential radio signals... Unfortunately, all that could be heard was static. Perhaps these tall trees interfered with the signals? That was if there were any signals to even pick up. Hoplite supposed that he could try and reach the top of one of these tall trees, but the sheer weight of his suit would break most branches he if he tried to climb them.

He could always take the suit off… but without the assembler, it would be incredibly difficult and time consuming to put back on by himself. Hoplite knew that eventually, he would need to remove the suit in order to take care of his more human needs. The phalanx suit was built for engaging in and ending conflicts relatively quickly; certainly not for long missions behind enemy lines, such as the other models that Hoplites utilized. It had no built in system for waste disposal, a most unfortunate design flaw, given his current situation.

Surely a combat engineer would have made it planet-side; surely they would be able to reattach his armor quicker than he by himself could. It was just a matter of rendezvousing with Ternan personnel… He scrunched up his brow as he made his way back toward the drop pod, an unsettling thought occurring to him.

They had all evacuated hours before Hoplite had made it to the surface, and depending on this world's rotation, they could all be on the opposite side of the planet. Hot frustration bubbled up within him, but he quickly bottled it. Hoplite couldn’t afford to feel such an immature emotion during this time, he had to begin searching for his fellow soldiers.

The forest around him was buzzing with life, fireflies floated through the air, illuminating small portions of these dark woods. Crickets and frogs both sounded off with croaks and chirps seemingly in tune with one another. The surrounding trees were deciduous and tall, each one easily reaching over sixty feet in height. From the light of the fireflies, he could see the deep green hue of their broad leaves. A light breeze blew through the forest, shifting the horribly familiar leaves.

Frogs? Fireflies? Crickets?

These trees and particular species of grass?

They were all from earth. Hoplite had been trained on the homeworld, so he had become familiar with the flora and fauna inhabiting it. What were these doing here on a backwater world with no orbital defense stations? This couldn’t be a human colony, there wasn’t even a token defense fleet around it…

But how else could this be explained? Perhaps there had been the beginnings of a colony here, but they only got as far as terraforming before they had to leave. Maybe the Final Kind found this fledgling colony and destroyed it? No, that couldn’t be it. They would be colonizing this world instead if they had. A lot of habitable worlds shared a common template when it came to lifeforms, perhaps these weren’t all exactly from earth. There could be differences that he couldn’t see on the surface.

He would need to look into this another time. For now, he would just concentrate on exploring the surrounding forest. He returned to the pod, grabbing a pistol, combat knife, and an automatic rifle and clipping them to his thighs and back. After that, Hoplite re-emerged, sealing the pod doors shut behind him.

Time to get started.

He began heading south, in the direction the pod was facing. As he passed through the trees he kept his eyes peeled, one eye looking through each camera as he went. As he passed each tree, he marred its surface with his combat knife. He was intentionally moving in a straight line so he could easily head back to the pod if need be, but it always paid to play it safe. If somehow he ended up losing his way, he could simply follow the marked trees all the way back no problem.

He went on like that for an hour, keeping a brisk pace and only spotting nocturnal forest critters. Nocturnal forest critters that were from Earth. Hoplite shook his head, that would be an issue for later. No hostiles for at least an hour south, time to run back and repeat this in each direction-

There, displayed on his back camera.

A humanoid shadow peered down on him from a branch high above him, almost out of his camera's view. Whatever it was, it had no idea that Hoplite could see it up there. He was unsettled to realize that, if the shadow hadn’t moved, Hoplite likely wouldn’t have been able to distinguish it from the blackness above. The leaves of the trees had blocked out most of the green moonlight from the forest below. He had only been able to see the thing after the branch it was moving across ever so slightly shifted beneath its weight. Hoplite turned, aiming his shotgun up at the exact position of the thing, finger on the trigger.

“Identify.” Hoplite ordered.

The thing didn’t reply, instead stiffening to blend in with the surrounding shadow. Which it did to great effect. He bumped his chin, activating his thermals and seeing a humanoid shape, crouching high on a thin branch above. Didn't seem to be a creature from the Final Kind, the shape was simply far too human. Not that there weren't traitors to Terna within the Final Kind's ranks of course, rare as they might be.

“Identify or I will open fire in three, two-”

“Wait!” A voice shouted from above.

Hoplite removed his finger from the trigger, but kept his gun trained on the stranger. Was it someone from the Sparrow, or the hypothetical lost colony? He needed answers and he was going to get them.

“Down here now.” Hoplite ordered, tone commanding.

The man then dropped to the forest floor, landing cleanly on both legs without shattering them. Did this person have reinforced bones? A normal human couldn’t drop from such a height without at least breaking something… Hoplite bumped his chin, turning off the thermals and activating his flashlight to illuminate the stranger, who gasped in terror as he was engulfed by the brightness.

“You said you wouldn’t open your fire upon me!” The man shouted, scrambling back while raising his hands over his eyes.

“I didn’t.” Hoplite said simply.

He was a tall man, clad in black cloth that covered him head to toe, leaving only his bright green eyes visible. Hoplite felt relieved to see another human, but why had this person tried to sneak up on him? Did he think that Hoplite was Final Kind? It was really dark beneath these trees, perhaps he mistook his large size for that of an alien.

“Identify.” Hoplite ordered.

“L-Lance Gilderbreeze.” The man squeaked, lowering his hands but maintaining a tense posture.

Lance Gilderbreeze? What a strange name.

“Rank?” Hoplite asked, lowering his shotgun and standing at rest.

“Rank?” Lance asked, his brows creasing slightly “I… I just watch, no ranks.”

Hoplite stared.

“So you’re a civilian?” Hoplite asked, approaching Lance slowly.

He didn't want to scare him away if he was a civilian, they tended to run away from him if he got too close too quickly. Lance stood his ground thankfully, staring up at Hoplite's helmet with shaking legs. They were merely five feet apart now, the difference in height now apparent to Lance, who had to crane his head far back to look into Hoplite’s helmet.

“I-well yes but not-” Lance started.

“What happened to your colony?” Hoplite asked “Did the Final Kind destroy your ships? Why didn’t they wipe you all out afterwards?”

“...Colony? Final Kind?” Lance asked “Golem, I know not what you speak of, I was ordered to investigate the falling star and came upon you by chance.”

“Golem?” Hoplite asked, his own brows knitting together in thought.

“Are you not a golem?” Lance asked “What are you?”

“A Hoplite.” He replied “Take me to who’s in charge.” He ordered.

“I don’t think that I-”

“Now.” Hoplite ordered again, voice low and dangerous.