Maddison sat staring out the narrow windows of the Behemoth, the fog was beginning to clear, the chorus of night life had finally subsided and the morning parade of small winged insects had begun. She had volunteered for sentry duties as often as Niezen would allow, but within two days Niezen noticed she wasn't sleeping between her shifts. Maddison did well to hide her insomnia but the darkness around her bloodshot eyes betrayed her. When Baxter was sent to keep an eye on Maddison he found she had taken it upon herself to activate a drone. Without a competent pilot, or even the knowledge to engage autopilot, the drone was running late for its date with a nearby tree just as Baxter stumbled upon her. Maddison shrieked as Baxter picked her up from the console and sat her aside, luckily with time to activate the return prompt function. With his hand forced, Niezen decided to keep Maddison under constant guard. For hours she paced before finally collapsing. Carl had tried to reason with her too, but to no avail, so Niezen decided it was time to intervene further.

"You can't keep this up, you need to eat something," advised Niezen sounding like a parent scolding their wayward child. His message went unanswered as Maddison stared at the floor waiting for him to give up and leave. "I know this sounds trite but what would he want for you?"

Her eyes flit upward. "You think he's dead don't you?" she spat.

Niezen scoffed, "I'm not the one crippled by depression here." Niezen did well to hide the fact that he cringed as he said it. Expecting an assault of both the face and groin, Niezen closed his eyes awaiting punishment. An agonising moment passed until he realised he had lucked out. Niezen opened his eyes to find Maddison sitting there in silence with a single tear on her right cheek. "Please have a drink, you're that dehydrated you can't even cry from both eyes."

Maddison's lip quivered as she gave in with the slightest nod. Niezen got up to collect a canteen and sat back down with her. She drank some water, without being forced but said nothing further for the next few hours that Niezen sat with her.

For days there had been no sign of Felix. Maddison had eaten almost nothing and slept even less.

Finally on the seventh day Felix returned. His armour was filthy and carrying a spear he strolled back into camp with an entourage of two, perhaps the same pair he had left with for all the others knew.

"Sir! The Doc's back!" cheered Baxter as he woke Niezen who had been up half the previous night on watch, "looks like he brought his friends back with him."

"Thank you Sergeant," Niezen yawned as he rubbed his eyes, still stinging, "Best go let Maddison know he's back."

"No need Sir." replied Baxter as he activated a screen to an external camera showing Maddison running toward Felix as fast as her weakened state would allow. Niezen grinned and snorted before taking to his feet. As they exited their Behemoth they found the entire camp gathered around the visitors gawking like tourists. Maddison was still yet to release Felix from her embrace. Her tears continued to flow as her knees grew weak, she faltered just as Felix held her tighter calling out for assistance.

"Maddie, I'm sorry I made you worry," Felix whispered whilst leaning over her. A stretcher appeared and Maddison was taken back inside. Felix noticing Niezen turned to him, "how could you let her get that bad?" Felix grunted as he straightened his back.

"I'm sorry buddy but she didn't give us much choice. Baxter even caught her trying to use a drone to find you, she almost crashed the bloody thing," he answered with a smirk. Felix chuckled, excusing himself for a moment.

Felix went inside to see Maddison, she had been put on an IV with a hint of sedative to ensure she rested completely. She slowly drifted out of consciousness with a child-like smile, squeezing Felix's hand. Her grip lessened and her arm swung down past her side, Felix caught it, then placed her arm across her chest.

Back outside Felix found Niezen and Baxter were waiting for him. Felix never considered himself much of a story teller but knew he would have to be debriefed after his unprecedented adventure. He walked back over to his new friends who were just finishing off some dried hopper meat and reached out to touch them both. The pair had refuelled and were ready to depart. They gave a wave and the camp waved back, watching as their new mysterious friends walked off into the forest.

Niezen wished to speak with Felix privately first to assess the risk of their new neighbours before Felix could regale the whole camp with his tale. They were joined by Lt. Fletcher, Sergeant Baxter and Senior Engineer Sunisa Srisati who along with Felix made up the Command structure of their ragtag camp.

Now out of his armour, Felix sat finishing off a canteen. He put it down and wiped his face with his arm. "They call themselves Drusai. Just as they appear, they're hunters and gatherers with a nomadic culture," explained Felix.

"How far is it, and how many?" questioned Niezen with a blunt tone, not wasting any time.

"I'm not entirely sure, it was a day and a half to get there maybe, with a four hour rest I think. Their tribe numbered around about forty or so, including the younger and older ones," answered Felix.

"They have kids?" beamed Sunisa with a delighted expression.

"Yup, their females seemed a tad smaller than the males, aside from that the faces are a little different. But no discernible mammary glands so it was difficult telling them apart," Felix explained.

"No tits eh?" added Baxter as Sunisa scowled at him.

Niezen sighed at his Sergeant's boorishness then gestured for Felix to continue but Fletcher jumped in first, "I noticed our guests didn't speak during their visit, even to each other. Are they mute or just shy?"

"Oh they were talking, we just couldn't hear them," affirmed Felix.

"Some kind of frequency our ears don't pick up on I take it?" guessed Niezen.

Felix laughed, "nope, and that's the really cool part," he smiled pausing to build suspense, "they're telepathic."

"Of course!" blurted Niezen as he jumped up, "that's why they needed to touch you."

"Very perceptive Lieutenant," Felix nodded to congratulate Niezen on his hypothesis. "The thing is it's more of an early stage of telepathy. I can only assume that due to their brain chemistry differing from ours that they require physical contact to interact with our minds. Although I have absolutely no idea how it's even possible."

The collective curiosity of the group spiked. "How so?" enquired Fletcher.

"Well they don't send whole messages or sentences," began Felix, "it isn't quite that sophisticated or complex. More like, they convey a single feeling or a concept as thought. They also have a spoken language but the Drusai vocabulary appeared limited to a handful of words that I got to hear."

"Remarkable," admitted Niezen as he slowly shook his head in disbelief, "but I guess they were pretty impressed by our level of technology then?"

Felix snorted, "actually that's the funny part. They didn't seem curious or even intimidated in the slightest. If I understood them correctly, they have lived that way for tens of thousands of years and they're content as they are."

"Might be hard to intimidate them when they tower over us," added Baxter.

"They are peaceful, not once was I made to feel as though I was a burden or in any danger. I was well fed and protected in their company," explained Felix.

"Protected?" asked Niezen raising his brow.

"Yeah, we had a run in. Same thing that got Higgins," sighed Felix. "They call those things Mosa."

"Did it attack their village?" gasped Niezen.

"No, it was just a few hours before we got here. It was amazing, the Drusai are lightning fast. Not to mention the beast was done in by a single spear," elaborated Felix as he waved his arms around to help narrate his story.

Baxter grinned as he wondered how he would fare in a wrestling match against a Drusai. Niezen recognised Baxter's expression and stared him down before he could make plans to do anything asinine.

"Felix, I have to know. Was I right about the Hopper?" pleaded Niezen.

Simultaneously both Felix and Baxter cackled. "Yes, indeed you were," confirmed Felix, "Bok Boks they're called. The Drusai hunt them regularly. The Ro'cals are a primary food source as well, although they're actually called Dunak. They saw us as pretty poor hunters so when my one got away they brought it back."

Niezen sat back in his seat with a smug look feeling rather chuffed that his plan had yielded such a fascinating outcome. "Sounds like they were watching us for a while," he surmised almost fearfully.

"They were, but only to determine if we were a threat or not," added Felix, "and one more thing," said Felix as he waited to see all eyes on him. "They're expecting us. I told them I would take you all there."

"Whoa whoa, hang on a sec there. Why would you say that?" demanded Niezen in a panic.

"I think they would be willing to help us," explained Felix to Niezen's sceptical face.

"With what? Food, water and spears?" joked Baxter.

"No Sergeant," Felix's tone shifted to the side of seriousness, "to help us re-take the ship."

"What makes you so sure they would help us?" asked Fletcher genuinely.

"They have a strong connection to their land, they respect it above all other customs. This world belongs to them and I doubt the Drusai will just roll over and let those savages desecrate their home," answered Felix allowing anger to find its way into his voice.

"A sound argument, but we must discuss this further. Any way you look at it, this is an unprecedented situation. We must tread carefully. For now you should rest and check in on Maddison," concluded Niezen.

Satisfied with Niezen's response for the meantime, Felix excused himself and left. He soon found himself by Maddison's side, he stood there silent and motionless for a moment before he proceeded to caress her hair. Despite still being unconscious, her condition seemed to have improved significantly and colour had returned to her face at last. Content with her betterment Felix went to leave and felt Maddison grasp him by the wrist.

"Not so fast," she mumbled softly, her speech was slow as she was still under the effects of the sedatives, "you haven't even said anything," she whined.

Felix snickered "don't you look radiant this fine day my dear," he laughed but dropped his ruse just as Maddison pursed her lips to scowl.

"Subterfuge aside, I want to know all about your adventure," she said trying to sit up.

In a rare turn, Felix took a more authoritative stance. He raised his hand gently stopping her from lifting herself, "I'm glad you're feeling better Maddie, but now is not the time. When you're up to it we can discuss it at length, I promise. You'll need your strength to sit the whole story anyway," he smiled.

Her eyes closed slowly just as Felix finished his sentence, he tried to convince himself that she just didn't have the strength to keep them open but her timing was just too conveniently defiant. Pretending or not, he left her to rest as he turned in to do the same.

A few days later Niezen found Felix as he was eating, it had been decided that Felix's plan had the go ahead, they would visit the Drusai tribe and ask for help but only the one Behemoth would go.

"Our merry band of survivors is scared out here, even if they don't all show it," Niezen explained to Felix. " It would make for poor diplomacy amongst telepaths to send a bunch of freaked out people to meet with them."

"I see your point. I take it you won't be passing up this opportunity?" assumed Felix with a smirk.

"Not on your life!" Niezen snapped, "It is my responsibility as the leader of this motley crew to assess the viability of potential allies," he nodded.

"Right," Felix mumbled, raising his brow.

"And I'm not letting you have all the fun," Niezen grinned, failing to hide his excitement.

"That sounds more accurate," chuckled Felix.

The telemetry from Felix's helmet was analysed and the team concluded they would have to go around the forest as the trees were far too thick for the Behemoths in that direction. It was noted that particular course would add significant time to their journey but the team was satisfied with that option rather then being exposed to further unforeseen dangers of the wilderness.

The diplomacy team consisted of Felix, Niezen and three Troopers for support. They decided to wait another day before departing to send drones ahead on their potential route to ensure the Behemoth could traverse the entire distance without dramatic changes in geography.

"This looks like our best bet, might take a few extra days but with that slope there we don't have much choice," stated Niezen as he indicated to contours of the topographic map display on screen.

"Agreed. What about drones for other potential dangers?" asked Felix.

"Just what I was thinking, you'd have made a fine officer if you went military Doc," nodded Niezen. "A drone will take point so we constantly know what's a head of us and a second will follow behind just in case someone or something picks up our trail," explained Niezen.

Felix grinned at the compliment, "shall we head out at first light?"

"Yes, hopefully we can at least make it past that low ridge before nightfall," answered Niezen as he highlighted a section of the map. "If we can maintain that momentum, we should get there in under four days."

"So who are you leaving in charge?" joked Felix, knowing full well already.

Niezen chuckled, "why Baxter of course. Mind you I'll still tell Fletcher he's in command. So long as he doesn't give my Sergeant any stupid orders he won't be usurped."

"Good plan," laughed Felix with an approving grin.

With their route confirmed, the pair checked in to see if there were any volunteers among their forces. Niezen made the announcement and ten Troopers stepped forward without any hesitation. "I commend you all, but unfortunately I only need three for this trip," stated Niezen. He scanned the line up and decided to make it random, picking the Troopers from each end and the Medic near the centre. He instructed them to report to the Command Behemoth for a briefing in ten minutes. As they arrived, Niezen realised there was a fourth face tagging along, "should you really be out of bed?" he scoffed.

"Thank you for your concern. But I'm feeling much better," replied Maddison bluntly, "one of the Medics said I was good to go this morning," she added in a huff.

"Very well then, you're welcome to sit in on the briefing, take a seat," replied Niezen.

Niezen started the briefing as Maddison took the seat next to Felix. He smiled at her as he took her hand. She felt both assured and even slightly amorous until she realised he was merely checking her pulse.

"Feels good," he whispered trying not to interrupt Niezen, "you look much better today, I'm so glad," he smiled.

Maddison beamed in return, quickly forgetting that he didn't just wish to hold her hand. She then squeezed his hand ever so slightly waiting to analyse his reaction. His hand remained, as he continued to listen to the briefing. Maddison shuffled closer to him, just enough to whisper in his ear, "I've made up my mind. I'm going with you."

"Wait what?" Felix blurted out loud enough to give Niezen pause and draw everyone's attention. "No no I would rather you stay here and rest," he argued.

Maddison took a deep breath preparing to protest, but before she could plead her case Niezen chimed in, "it would probably be better for her to tag along," he said. Felix looked at Niezen with a puzzled expression hinting on betrayal. "Look how she fared last time you left, she was that worried she hardly ate or slept. And besides, we're going to meet an alien race. It would make sense to have a second Xenobiologist in our midst," Niezen explained amicably as Maddison nodded with a big smile.

"You sure about this?" Felix yelped at Niezen.

"No problem," he answered as the three Troopers watched on giving their neck muscles a strenuous workout trying to keep up with the conversation flying back and forth, like a heated tennis match.

"And you're certain you feel strong enough Maddie?" Felix asked her knowing full well what the answer would be anyway. The Troopers were practically on the edge of their seats.

"Of course," she nodded confidently. The Troopers looked at Felix awaiting his verdict.

"Well, I guess I can keep an eye on you then," Felix surmised reluctantly. The Troopers exhaled and allowed their bodies to relax.

"Well now that we've sorted that out let's get back to it," said Niezen clearing his throat.

With the briefing concluded the team went over their gear and stocked the Behemoth with supplies. As the next day dawned, the lone Behemoth set off on a mission of the utmost importance, the first of its kind and with so much at stake.