[center][h3]DSS [I]Audie Murphy[/I][/h3][/center]
[hr]
Specialist Lee continued to observe the aliens, watching as they moved about the bridge. As they moved away from the lightly injured crewmen and towards the more heavily injured ones, his eyes followed, and he winced at what he saw. One of the crewmen was lying on his side, with several deep injuries. The only sign of life was the occasional rise and fall of his chest. The other crewman wasn't so lucky- his neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, obviously dead. [i]That's a damn shame,[/I] he thought. Even before their arrival on this strange planet, the crew had been understrength, and they had already lost half of their number in the crash. Every time they lost someone, their odds of survival went down. 

Looking away from the grisly scene, he noticed that one of the aliens was looking at him. He looked back at it, watching as its eyes transformed. The being's eyes were similar to that of the creature he had just killed, but much more calm, lacking the rage that the dead creature had. [i]Are they the same species? They look mostly similar, but there are a few differences.[/i] Before he could continue that line of thought, he watched as the creature's eyes flashed, and its horn began to glow. Immediately, he could feel the psychic power emanating from the creature. He could only hope that the creature wasn't about to unleash an attack, as there would be no way he could defend himself. Fortunately, his fears were unfounded, as the creature sent a gentle psionic signal towards him. The message was simple enough, and he slowly nodded. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes, trying to muster up whatever energy he had left. He had just enough energy left to send a simple response back, but he didn't need to. Instead, he focused on regenerating more of his energy, waiting for the creature to send another message.

[hr]
Meanwhile, outside the ship, Carver watched as the swarm continued to fall apart. With their leader killed, it seemed they had no direction, and were reduced to fighting each other. With some concern, he noticed that a few of them were heading towards the ship, those these ones were usually quickly picked off by the Marines. It seemed that the battle was soon to be over, and Carver couldn't wait until he could sit back and get some rest. Ever since they had arrived on the planet, they had been constantly working or fighting, and a break sounded very appealing right about now.

However, before they could finish off the remaining enemies, they were interrupted as the griffon that Carver had seen on the cameras approached, inadvertently blocking their line of fire. Carver held up his hand to have the Marines stop firing, and they obeyed, silently watching the creature. Carver was surprised as the sheer [i]size[/i] of the creature before him- it was nearly as tall as the Marines. It had certainly looked much smaller on video than in person. Soon, it was not alone, as another winged creature landed on top of it. Then, the creature from before flew over, landing on the new creature's head, and the three of them began to speak in their alien language. The Marines watched silently, mostly in confusion over their bizarre behavior.

Looking to the side, he observed the crashed ship in the distance. It's shield activated again, and he could barely make out figures on the deck railing. As they threw something overboard, some sort of glowing red object, the survivors of the swarm began to move towards it. As a few of the Marines aimed their rifles towards the swarm, he spoke up. "Don't shoot them now. Let's see what their plan is." 

Focusing his attention towards the three creatures, he turned to face them. "I'll try to make contact with them. Don't do anything stupid." At that, he began to walk towards them. Taking a few steps in their direction, he stopped when he was about fifteen feet away from them. To an uninformed observer, the UED forces could look quite intimidating. There were eleven eight foot tall beings, in metal suits with face-concealing visors, along with two large mechs. Standing in front of them, Carver opened his visor, showing his face to the creatures, a move that he hoped would make him look less threatening. Holding his rifle at his side with his right hand, he raised his open left hand up. While it was currently impossible to communicate with the creatures, this gesture would hopefully communicate the fact that they had no hostile intentions.