- It had taken over a week for the USM logistical transport Perth to make its trip from Europa to the Alpha Centauri system with the use of Faster Than Light (FTL) travel.

The Perth's cargo was eight thousand new recruits, all brought in to gain a foothold within the Alpha Centauri system, specifically the planet Loki.

Among them the 223rd Crazy Tigers Rifles Regiment, fresh and excited from their completed tests within the military training camp on Europa. Most had joined in the hope to become heroes in the war, some had joined because they had no choice, and some had come because it was an opportunity to see the stars.

USM Perth didn't have much in the way of viewing the outside apart from the bridge and a couple of observatories. The observatories only had limited visits throughout the day. As the Perth had been converted from a cargo freighter to military transport, luxuries like observation windows were considered unnecessary.

The view, however, from the observatory was astonishing. Jason had never been to another star system before. Watching the Alpha Centauri binary stars tussling with each other's orbit like two fireball titans ready to battle, was beautiful and awe-inducing in equal measure. Rigil Kentaurus, the larger star of the two, was a star similar to that of our sun though a few million kilometres bigger in diameter. Toliman was much smaller and its tinted reds looked like the star was in a constant sunset.

It was a stunning sight, one which many of the soldiers were trying to gather memory clips of to show to friends and families when they returned from rotation.

The planet Loki started to come into focus. The 3rd of 22 planets in the system, Loki was named after the Norse god of chaos, aptly named because of the complete chaos its dense foggy clouds caused communications between the planet floor and its orbit. It was one of the USM's primary sources of chemicals for stims used by soldiers for increased endurance, vitality or recovery, therefore, its strategic importance was relatively significant.

The aliens, now dubbed Ceti's due to their origin being that of the Tau Ceti system had hit this planet hard, overrunning the local militia with ease and taking control of the planet in just under three months.

It had taken another five months for the USM just to gain a foothold within the orbit of the planet before enduring heavy losses from retaliatory attacks by the Ceti's. Now it was time to try and establish a 'beachhead' on the planet to gain control and restart production to the rapidly dwindling stim stockpiles.

That's what Jason was here for. Part of Operation Chaos Anvil, a massive operation involving a total of 250 thousand troops.

Jason watched as more of the planet came into view. He stood in astonishment as he could see its dense yellow clouds swirling constantly around the planet. The planet was almost completely engulfed by the dense foggy cloud and the visibility of the ground was almost non-existent.

"Crazy Tigers report to briefing room 17 on the USM Athena at zero hundred hours."

Jason heard the voice over his internal comm link placed inside his ear. He turned towards the front of the ship hoping to get a glimpse of the Olympus class Carrier Athena. Feeling giddy inside like a schoolchild he smiled within himself realising he was starting to achieve his dream of being an integral part of the military and having the opportunity to see one of the greatest flagships the USM had to offer.

What originally seemed like a small blip in the sky turned out to be a huge 4-kilometre long vessel gliding around the orbit of Loki surrounded by a number of smaller space-faring craft.

An impressive sight even more so as the Perth flew into the belly of the Athena engulfed like a whale chasing plankton.

As much as he wanted to admire the ship he knew he wouldn't be on it for very long. Rumour had it that they were there to be part of the first wave to retake the planet. Within a few days, he and the 223rd would be sent to establish the beachhead.

Making his way towards the briefing rooms, it wasn't immediately obvious that the logistics ship had docked with the carrier. The exceptional inertia dampeners reduced any force the connections between the two ships had made. It wasn't until the lighting around the ship changed and the constant whirring of the engine had died down, a noise he hadn't really noticed until its absence.

Finding the briefing room was next. On a four-kilometre long ship with endless corridors and rooms, it would be a daunting task.

Stepping onto the carrier the first thing Jason noticed was the artificial gravity was slightly denser than that of the Perth. His movements initially felt like he was pushing himself through treacle due to his increased weight, but it was likely so he could adapt to Loki's local gravity much quicker.

The walls and corridors of the Athena simply looked immaculate. Curved smooth white walls with strips running along each corridor were displaying the sophistication and quality of human military ingenuity.

A stripe on one wall lit up and moved down a corridor away from Jason. Having scanned Jason when he first stepped foot on the carrier, it was likely it instantly knew where he was meant to be based on his schedule.

After a few minutes of walking, Jason was certain he would have been lost if the walls hadn't pointed him in the correct direction. Each wall looked the same, and despite the conformity, after so many corridors, he did not know which direction he was facing.

As a window came into view, Jason took a brief moment to examine outside and stare at the empty void of space beyond the glowing swirling yellows of the mysterious planet Loki. As he examined the void, before switching to the mystery of the planet, he reminded himself what the planet really signified.

Death.

Not his, though, no, he would survive this planet. He was far too young to simply die on his first proper mission but he had been doing a considerable amount of reading on his trip here to keep up to date with the events of the war.

Over 200'000 troops had lost their lives on this planet alone. It had been a blood bath for both sides but while the Ceti's had been the more successful on the ground, the USM had gained orbital superiority around the planet. Once again, not without cost. Several ships had been lost or severely damaged by the enemy including the USM carrier Poseidon now currently in refit and unlikely to be cleared for active duty for the remainder of the year and beyond.

A devastating loss for one of the USM's most powerful spaceships.

These Ceti's were an interesting and tenacious foe.

Rumour had it that they had an uncompromising but idiotic code of honour stating that they could not use firearms in ground warfare. Their sceptre, the long three-pronged spear, was their main form of attack while their primary arm also homed three daggers which extended with devastating effect at the will of its owner.

Idiotic, but effective.

It didn't make sense to have this code of honour but their energy shield meant that 9 times out of 10 they were able to close the distance between them and their attacker to make short work of them. They were simply brutal at close range. Extremely agile, quicker reflexes and trained in their own forms of martial arts with great efficiency. While they struggled against heavy machinery in open warfare they were intelligent enough to make sure they never faced that machinery in the first place.

A very interesting but complicated foe.

Jason watched as two scimitar fighters flew past the window, most likely returning from patrol. There were constant patrols, twice as many as normal which meant the brass were expecting counter-attacks at any time.

While they had their code of honour on the ground, probably created some few thousand years ago, it did not replicate to space warfare.

Their ships were as well equipped as the USM, though their armour configurations were less robust. What they did have over the USM was a type of wormhole technology which allowed them to traverse great distances much quicker than anything the USM had to offer.

The fortunate thing was they needed a point of entry. They couldn't just appear anywhere in the galaxy because they wouldn't know what was on the other end nor would they be able to make an absolutely accurate jump. That was what the small scout ships were for.

The scout ships, using simple FTL travel, would fly to their destination, send coordinates to the fleet and then wait for the wormhole to be created.

That was what the patrols were for, to make sure there were no scout ships around, however, this was easier said than done since they had efficient stealth technologies.

What Jason couldn't understand was why the Ceti's would attack in the first place.

Both sides had similar technologies and abilities. No one side was winning this war and if annihilation was their goal it would probably take a considerable amount of loss for them to achieve it. They didn't seem to be after specific resources either and they had left the Solar system, except Pluto, well alone. From what Jason knew about the situation, no one had gained a motive from the Ceti captives to this date. Maybe he could ask one when he meets them!

It was a silly thought, but he was feeling very confident. The war had been equally balanced, but then they hadn't met Corporal Jason Scharn. Time to kick E.T. back to Tau Ceti!

Walking into the briefing room, Jason sat next to Aurora who was talking fervently to Lance Corporal Pavylenko about which they thought was better, the Scimitar or Rapier interceptor.

"Neither, the new Shaska trumps them both." Jason interrupted smiling.

Both Aurora and Pavylenko looked at him speechless. Everyone knew the Shaska wasn't even approved for trials yet.

As they turned back to their argument Jason got himself prepared for the briefing, setting up his small screen to the right of his chair. Pressing on the screen he brought up information about the Ceti's, hoping to gather a bit more knowledge about the enemy before the briefing began.

The lights dimmed.

"Atten-Hut, prepare for the briefing with Colonel Lehtonen." The room echoed fervently. Everyone in the room stood to attention as a holographic image of a fair-haired officer appeared.

An hour had passed and the briefing was coming to an end. They had studied various 3D maps and diagrams and soon they were expected to return to the barracks and memorise their instructions.

At 22 hundred hours tomorrow night EST, a number of drop ships will be deployed to point Arthur. Resistance will be minimal until point Arthur was reached at which they are to establish a perimeter. The 223rd are to move towards point Gawain, a 2-kilometre trek to the border of the Molhearn Forest where they are to dig in until heavy vehicle support could be provided.

Once heavy vehicle support arrives, they are to move south to the Augustus River and set up camp there until further orders were given. At this point, Artillery units would have landed and connection to the local air tower would be established and air support would then be provided. A beachhead would then be officially defined and the retaking of the planet would begin.

Jason had already memorised the orders, now he just needed to memorise the routes, the scenery, the key locations and who they would expect to meet if local resistance made contact.

It seemed a little bit of an anti-climax for his first mission. Months of training to basically spend most of it walking and waiting for little to nothing to happen.

It all seemed like a pretty routine mission in which high command, the brass, seemed pretty confident. Land, take control, move, dig in. What could possibly go wrong?