Those lucky few who escaped the mutiny, fled from the Hyperion and headed South. They covered the vast expanse of destitute grasslands as fast as they could manage. After a few days at top speed they came upon the fringe of a forest and entered hoping to find sanctuary in the cover. Soon the trees would be too dense for the vehicles to navigate and they decided to rest, confident they now had enough distance between them and the Hyperion. Weary and burdened by the thought of complete isolation in a place so alien to Gaia, the travellers would now have to survive on their own for a time if there was any chance to retake the ship to come.

Maddison and Carl had swapped seats so she and Felix could console one another. Though one was a hero and the other a traitor, two life-long friends had been lost to them in merely an instant.

With three days of travelling and little sleep between them, the entire group was exhausted. They harboured up the vehicles and organised a roster for sentries to man the turrets whilst the remainder tried desperately to get some rest. They continued like this another week as their supplies started to run low while their concerns mounted.

A meeting was called, and all were free to weigh in but most of the Troopers sat back waiting to hear what Niezen had to say. There was a second Officer in their midst, Lieutenant 1st Class Charles Fletcher. Luckily for Fletcher, Yamada had noticed him as he rushed past and ordered him to the Cargo bay. Fletcher had no qualms whatsoever about Niezen assuming command, two days out from the mutiny Fletcher was still shaking and hadn't so much as said a word.

"I'm thinking it might be time to re-take the ship," announced Niezen but his words offered little comfort to his companions and were met with silence and wandering eyes. "We're as strong now as we're going to be, the longer we put it off the more our rat-packs will diminish," Niezen explained. Sergeant Baxter stood at his side nodding incessantly in support.

"And what if the weapons are back up? We'd be wiped out before we could even reach an air-lock," protested a voice from within the group. A few murmurs followed until they were hushed by Niezen raising his right hand.

"Captain Yamada assured me they cannot be reactivated, with the Colonel gone his authorisation code died with him," responded Niezen. With the majority of the crowd looking slightly less concerned he continued, "when the time comes, we will dispatch drones to assess their capabilities, I have no intention of marching you to your deaths." The group's murmurs continued at a higher volume with less of an anxious undertone. Their confidence was growing, in both their Commander and their chances of survival.

Felix was biting the inside of his cheek, he felt less convinced and finally he spoke up. "What about survivors? There must be others trapped on board with that maniac and his goons."

Both Niezen and Baxter looked at Felix with the same grim expression. Felix quickly realised what they were going to say but remained silent as all present still needed to hear it.

"The fact of the matter guys, is that everyone we knew on that ship is either dead or now a traitor," Baxter's words hushed the entire group. His pause allowed the chorus of unknown insects to prevail in the background. "I want you, all of you, to look around, look at the faces of those who made it, those lucky enough to escape. If we fail to re-take that ship, then these are the only people you will know and care for. I want you all to learn each others names, our best chance of survival is to work as a coherent group."

Carl lifted his hands to applaud the Sergeant's humble words but was nudged in his side by Maddison's elbow, he turned to her confused but her face warned him well to drop it.

Niezen thanked his Sergeant for his wise words then moved back in to readdress the group. "Once we're done here I want all military personnel to report to me for a revision to the sentry roster. I will need to send some of you to find water, our condensers can't keep up with demand this high. All non-military personnel are to report to Sergeant Baxter. I need you all to be proficient with weapons and basic combat skills and I want everyone familiar with the Behemoth's systems. Are there any questions?"

"Yes I have a question Sir, what about food? You said it yourself our rations are slowly depleting and by the time we train up the civvies we'll probably be out," interjected a young Corporal.

"You're right Corporal, by my estimations we have less than two weeks left. Even then we'd be hitting them half starved by that point," advised Niezen.

"We could hunt Sir," replied the Corporal. The group's ears twitched and Maddison scowled at the Corporal as she waited for Niezen to shoot him down.

"I second that suggestion, also I have a list of all edible plants that we had identified thus far," chimed in Carl before Niezen could answer. Maddison stared him down with her jaw clenched and nostrils flaring.

"Perfect Doctor, bring it to me when we're done here and I'll have my troopers study it," said Niezen. Relishing the praise Carl nodded as though his neck went into spasm. "I agree Corporal-"

"Whoa! Umm hang on a second," Maddison raised her voice cutting off Niezen.

Baxter stepped forward to verbally chastise her but was dismissed by Niezen clearing his throat.

"It's alright Sergeant, I did welcome all to weigh in. Doctor, I understand your concern but do you have another solution to our predicament?" reasoned Niezen.

Maddison paused to collect her thoughts, her emotional outburst had left her with the attention of the entire group, their faces were a mixed bag of reactions. Some were clearly ready to make that leap whilst others were hesitant, hoping for another solution to magically manifest itself. With her eyes closed and her head lowered, Maddison winced, clenching the skin around her eyes further. "I, I just don't see the point," she declared. With all eyes on her she elaborated, "why didn't we just stay there if we're going to turn into savages all the same, then no one would of died?" Maddison's argument had silenced the whispers as her eyes began to water. The voice that answered her was the last one she was expecting.

Felix placed his hand on her shoulder then stepped forward. "No, it's not the same. That man, that monster. We are nothing like him! If we are forced to hunt for food it would only be to survive. The Mandates are clear, impact must be minimal. It does not say non-existent. Surely any potential colony founded would have to feed growing numbers until sustainable means were established. This is no different in that regard."

Niezen narrowed his eyes and nodded approvingly at Felix.

"Maddie, I know your heart is in the right place," continued Felix, "but I want you to look at the bigger picture. If we starve here, bound by our own principals then who is going to stop them? Who will save this world from a barren, toxic fate to come like Earth?" he asked of her.

Maddison gave her back then stormed off back into a Behemoth, Felix knew her well enough to leave her be until she was ready to talk. Also he wasn't stupid, anything he said would only continue to fall on deaf ears for now. Niezen broke the silence reminding the group that they have their instructions and to proceed with them.

As they dispersed Niezen approached Felix. "I see the late Captain's admiration for you was well deserved," Niezen said with a firm nod. He then offered his hand to Felix. The pair locked eyes, smiled as they shook hands then went off on their separate ways.

Over the following week the non-military personnel were brought up to speed with the basics. Baxter drilled them thoroughly with unarmed and edged weapon combat. He pushed them to breaking point with endurance exercises trying to whip butter as he had cheerfully referred to it. With ammunition reserves at a premium, each of the rookies were granted only a handful of rounds to hone their marksmanship. A water source in the form of a small stream was located 5km away, no group smaller than six was permitted to make the trek. Edible plants and tubers were gathered from the surrounding area to keep them well nourished and their foraged diet began to round out, missing only one crucial element, protein.

The day arrived and Niezen led the first hunting party into the forest. He was accompanied by Felix and four of his Troopers. They headed for the stream hoping to pick up any game trails in the area or hopefully luck out and find quarry there planning to drink. It was suggested by one Trooper that they drive back to the grasslands looking for the Ro'cals as they were already known to be edible. The suggestion was instantly dismissed as they may end up making contact with the mutineers, a risk not worth taking. They can only hope the mutineers assume those that fled will weaken in time from a lack of food. And hope their presence remains concealed by the forest.

"Pfft, it looks more like a kangaroo," scoffed Felix debating with a Trooper. The hunting party was concealed behind a shrub observing a small group of unknown animals with stiff ears and long tails. They weren't overly large compared to a person, able to stand up right as they check for danger they periodically lowered their heads to graze.

Niezen touched the side of his helmet adjusting the magnification of his visor. "Sorry Trooper, but I'm with the Doc on this one."

"If you say so Sir, now let's bag some. These are all we've found so far," insisted the Trooper, fingering the safety on his rifle.

"Agreed, Felix, think you can pick one off ?" asked Niezen as he bent over tapping another Trooper's shoulder, "on my mark."

"Yes Sir," replied the prone Trooper, her rifle taking aim.

"I'll have a crack," decided Felix with a nod and an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

Two shots sang out and echoed off the trees in the distance. The first shot dropped one of the creatures, the rest were startled and bounded away in an instant. Felix had hesitated ever so slightly and his quarry suffered a mere graze before fleeing. Felix fired twice more but the creatures were far too nimble for his novice hands.

"Enough!" barked Niezen. "Don't waste the rounds."

"Fuck! Sorry about that," said Felix.

"Ah, don't worry Felix, you're a damn good shot for someone with so little practice," said one of the Troopers.

"Thanks Higgins," replied Felix grinning from the compliment.

"Shall we pursue Sir?" asked the other Trooper.

"No, we have something to take back and we still don't know what else is out here. Higgins, go get our dinner," Niezen ordered as he extended his arm gesturing towards their kill.

Higgins took off to claim their prize, stopping with it at his boots he shouldered his rifle then tilted his head examining the creature up and down trying to figure out how best to carry it. He heard a twig snap to his right, he fumbled to swing his rifle around just as a beast pounced on him from his left. Higgins screamed out as large sabre like canines sank into his body armour with little resistance. The rest of the hunting party, looked over to see the creature mauling Higgins and readied their rifles. Suddenly a second creature identical to the first leapt out, landing amongst them. Niezen fired first, hitting the creature several times, it screeched and snarled, bleeding heavily it retreated as suddenly as it had appeared. The party could no longer hear Higgins calling out for help, they opened fire fatally wounding the creature that had disembowelled him.

Higgins lay in a crimson pool, his armour cut to ribbons. His pack was removed, all items of value salvaged and he was left where he died. Much to the protest of Felix, but as explained by Niezen it would be unwise to remain vulnerable long enough to bury him, and worse to leave a trail of blood back to their camp. There could be far more sinister predators lurking in the forest for all they knew.

One of the Troopers drew his blade and tapped it against the creature's protruding fang, producing a familiar ting sound from clashing metals. "They're so hard, and that edge, it's almost like steel. No wonder the armour didn't offer any resistance. Poor bloody Higgins," he sighed.

The hunting party returned to their camp. News of their encounter and the fate of Trooper Higgins hit the camp rather heavily. Not only had they lost another valued member but their enigmatic environment had given them yet another reason to be ever cautious and fearful.

That night, proximity sensors were triggered at the camp. The sentries on duty frantically scanned the surrounds with the turrets. A body was located right at the fringe of their camp, collapsed on the ground, it appeared to be dead.

"What the hell is that?" the Trooper muttered aloud to herself whilst zooming in with the infrared. After the loss of Higgins the camp had grown more anxious and with a fresh carcass sitting at the edge of their camp the chances of a predator being nearby were too great. The alarm sounded and the entire camp was roused. Spot lights illuminated the entire area and Troopers conducted sweeps around the Behemoths.

"All clear," sang out the Troopers as they finished their patrols. With no immediate threat half the camp returned to bed whilst Felix and a few others moved in to inspect the body that had scared them all half to death.

"No way, it's a hopper," said Felix rather surprised.

"The thing we had for dinner?" asked Maddison still yawning.

"Yup, maybe it was the mate of the one we caught," surmised Felix causing Maddison to wince at the thought of breaking up a family.

Sergeant Baxter squatted down to inspect the body closely, he gestured to Niezen showing him a wound with dried blood. He proceeded to roll the body noticing there was no pool of blood underneath or any other drops or splatters in any direction.

"This is perplexing," stated Niezen scratching his chin, "it's definitely the same species and if I didn't know better I'd swear it was the one that got away yesterday."

Felix looked at Niezen, his curiosity growing. "My one? Maybe I am right then, perhaps it followed us back to camp looking for its mate before finally succumbing to blood loss," he joked.

Baxter jumped to his feet and began scanning the surrounding area in more detail, he found no tracks leading up to the creature's body nor any others not made by their own matching boot treads. He finished combing the area then reported back in, "Sir I don't know how it got here but it didn't hop or walk to our camp. What's more looking at that wound, it appears to have bled out hours ago but I can't find any blood around our camp," explained Baxter. "This looks very fishy to me Sir."

The group was puzzled to say the least, Niezen rubbed at his chin trying to make sense of the bizarre scenario thrust upon them, "this could mean trouble for us, we might have been found," he announced. Fearing a trap had been set for them and that an attack was imminent, Niezen gave Baxter his orders, "Baxter we're on high alert, have an engineer get a pair of drones up and run a 500m spiral and double all sentries until I give the all clear."

Baxter nodded and sprung into action, Niezen took Felix and Maddison back into a Behemoth to observe the drone video streams. For two hours the drones followed their path working outwards then returning to the epicentre with no signs of enemy movement.

"It looks clear to me," admitted Maddison sounding rather obnoxious.

"Yes, but I want to be certain before we can relax," replied Niezen as he manoeuvred himself back over to the control station. The outer drone's course was altered and it began to patrol the edge of the forest. Its sensors were able to reach 2km out into the open grasslands, still with no signs of the enemy. With the threat of imminent attack now subsiding, Niezen recalled the drones to recharge and took note of a large herd of hoppers to the West of their base camp.

The next day a hunting party set out to acquire more food. Closing in on the herd Niezen located by drone the day before, he divvied up the targets amongst his Troopers and took aim at one himself. They synchronised their shots to a single large crack in the air. Two of the hoppers fell instantly and a third received a round to its lower abdomen and it fled with the remainder of the herd. The Troopers took aim to prevent its escape but were told to allow it to do so.

"Sir, pardon me for saying so but that was your one and I know you're a better shot than that," enquired Trooper Mathews awaiting a deserved scolding.

Niezen burst into laughter, he turned to the Trooper manning a drone via a portable control pad. "Anything else out here?"

"No Sir, just us and the hoppers," came the reply.

"Excellent, let's get 'em," smiled Niezen. They collected their catch and Niezen checked for blood taking note of the direction the wounded hopper had fled.

"So what was so funny Sir?" asked Trooper Mathews feeling more confident.

"You're right Mathews, I didn't miss," grinned Niezen with a crafty smile. A few eyebrows went up in anticipation of the Lieutenant's reasoning. "Without an explanation for last night's odd occurrence I decided we should reset the same conditions and try again."

The hunting party nodded in silence for no other had even the slightest clue as to what would explain their bizarre event last night. So they set off back to camp boasting fresh meat.

That evening Niezen had a pair of drones on watch in addition to the sentry manned turrets. Finally in the early hours, minutes before twilight a drone went into alarm.

"Sir I've got something here," said the Trooper. Niezen jumped to the Trooper's side to see for himself. There in infrared two ominous figures approached the camp slowly.

"How many Sir?" asked Baxter trying to hide his yawn.

"I think it's just two, but the image isn't perfectly clear through the canopy," replied Niezen.

"Looks like they found us, must be just recon, shall I go welcome them Sir?" requested Baxter with a glint in his eye.

"No, for the meantime they think we're asleep. Be ready with all spotlights on my signal. And hold your fire, there's still a chance they could be fellow survivors," instructed Niezen as he turned the safety off his rifle.

As the pair closed in, their shapes grew in clarity. One of them was carrying something and Niezen was convinced it was his hopper. Seconds later Niezen strained to focus his vision as the pair stepped out into the open. Suddenly a dark and heavy state dawned on him as he began to regret tempting fate with his experiment. They weren't human.

First to break the long silence was Baxter, "what the fuck do we do Sir?" he panicked in a forced whisper.

"I, I'm not sure Sergeant. Titan expeditions were never supposed to be making first contact. We shouldn't even be here," responded Niezen more flustered than he was hoping to sound. The hopper was placed on the ground and the two turned to leave. "Ah good looks like it they're leaving," he sighed, "I'll track them with a drone to see what kind of civilisation they belong to." But before he could touch a single button Felix burst forth from another Behemoth.