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Noise filled the room from the various exercises others were training in, with every weapon imaginable, or with no weapons at all. Fighting in a large arena was one of the crimson Guardians against the wolves' best melee fighter, A.J. The arena was built with natural landscape, with weapons scattered around. Either one of them could win depending on the weapon they pick up, leaving it up to the other to overcome the challenge.

After sinking another knife into a dummy across the arena, Kaitlin was distracted by the scuffle with the alien.

A.J. had started by going immediately on the offensive by picking up a nearby blunted sword. He didn't go for swings that would be lethal and risk getting too close, because the Guardian was almost twice his size and had a significantly longer reach.

The Guardian evaded the first few swings easily, and used the environment to counterattack. The moment A.J. withdrew, the Guardian picked up a nearby spear that gave him a reach three times longer than the wolf's. Every time the wolf tried to get within that reach, the Guardian used his long legs to keep the distance.

Feather and fur danced around each other, but the advantage quickly went to the Guardian when he landed a kick on A.J. The wolf managed to block but the sheer size and strength of the alien sent him sliding back in the sand on his back.

A.J. was able to recover and get back into the fight. The wolf managed to get within the reach of the spear, where the alien wouldn't be able to draw back the weapon to defend him or attack.

For a moment it looked like A.J. might land a critical hit with his blunted sword, but the alien twisted his body in a way that looked like it'd break bones and evaded the strike. The spear fell from the alien's paw, and he counterattacked with a swipe of his claws across the wolf's throat.

Dropping his sword, A.J. clutched his neck and collapsed to the ground but luckily no artery was hit. A standby medic crew rushed to the wolf and started treating the wound.

Kaitlin understood why the alien chose a weapon that would give someone smaller an advantage, because the alien still had those lethal claws. From the murmuring around her, she knew that she wasn't the only one who realized this. A crowd of the soldiers training, several of them being other aliens from the rough flee, had gathered to watch the fight. So far out of the days training, A.J. had lasted the longest.

"Fighting the parasite that's infected my colleagues will not be easy," said the Guardian in a heavy accent. This alien was the only one of its race that has studied the Canideran's language and could speak it without the assistance of a translator. "They will be more savage and risk their own injury to land a single strike on you."

"When using these ancient weapons, the most effective warrior used ranged weapons but did not flee to gain distance," continued the alien, instructing the crowd. When charged, the warrior charged forward in return. It is the same with the parasite; if you flee, you'll be killed. If you fight them, you must not let them land a hit otherwise you risk infection. You'll be fighting forms of infection that are not familiar to you, on alien landscapes with limited weapons. The alien will do everything in their power to kill you. That is why I am here to train you, so do not hold back and expect the unexpected."

The next soldier was taking his place on the arena while the crowd started to disperse. The fights were obviously heavy favored for the alien but when the battle started tomorrow, the opponent wouldn't be playing on a level field either.

The lead trainer of the orphan program entered the room and volunteered next to spar with the alien. She hasn't seen him since they graduated from the orphanage.

"Chief Colin Vale is training with us to help fight on the Stealth homeworld," someone nearby said. Kaitlin saw Alex, supporting the injured beta wolf on his soldier. The fresh claws marks on his neck were still visible through his fur but they weren't bleeding anymore. "Admiral Alexander wants us back on Fury. We'll be reaching the Stealth homeworld by tomorrow."

A.J. insisted on walking on his own while they left the room, though he kept trying to paw at the wounds that must have been burning.

The alien species in the fleet that was assaulting the Stealth homeworld have been trained for almost a week now on how to specifically kill infested creatures of all different sizes and shapes. Kaitlin was the technician of the pack, and this battle was going to be larger than what she would like.

She and the rest of her pack were on a shuttle soon, and transferring to the flagship. From within the vessel, Kaitlin could see the fleet of less than two dozen ships. Small squadrons of Immunities were flying around, hunting down a few straggler ships that have been infested by the parasite.

The ship they left was one of the larger and most useless ships but served well for the forces to train at while they headed out to the homeworld of the Stealth aliens. The soldiers training on it will soon be emptied while everyone goes to their own battle ships.

The wolves boarded the ship and they rested for the battle. A.J. recovered quickly from the wounds and didn't see bothered by them by the time they slept.

"It's been an easy approach, too easy," remarked A.J. He was armored up like the rest of them in their custom gear.

"The main wave must have already moved on," Alex replied. They were all sitting in a drop ship, waiting to land on the surface of the Stealth home world. "That is what the Stealth's and that Agent intended. After we retake this world, the Stealth's will go to some of their other planets and scavenge their warships. Then we will return to the main fight."

"I heard the Admiral is hunting a specific infection form," another soldier in the passenger bay said, joining the conversation. "Some sort of vendetta and that's why this fleet is out here."

"If the Admiral has targeted a specific creature, then he has his reasons," Alex defended their commanding officer. "Regardless, he is right that we cannot stay on the defensive throughout this war. If we do then we will lose."

"Cut the chatter," said the Pilot. "Touching down in the outskirts, ten seconds out."

They weren't the first ship to land on the surface of the lost world, because once the wolves stepped out, there was already an army on the ground. Most of them were Stealth soldiers and few of them were UDAS soldiers, and they were already scattering into the city ruins. The city obviously suffered heavy damage in the invasion but that didn't stop from the botanical alien in growing over the strangely shaped buildings.

There was no sound of the battle just yet. The Admiral was ahead, and the wolf squadron joined up with him. They were on standby, the reserve for the Admiral's personal use if he needs their expertise at any point in the battle.

"Kazadme is still on the planet," she overhead the Admiral saying through his radio transmission. The civilian, Jun, was still on Drach'n Fury, watching over the battle with Fury and giving updates where he could. "He probably knows I'm here too. When you find him, let me know where he is."

The last words of the fox's sentence were drowned out by the shattering sound of a building being destroyed behind them. The army turned around, toward the sound, to see thousands of Creeper infestations emerging from the unnatural forest. For a moment they stood there, eyeing the new food that had just landed on the planet. That simple behavior was strange, and Kaitlin hasn't seen the Creepers resist charging except when a stronger form of infection was leading them.

Fighters screamed overhead, passing over the forests and bombing the core of it. With those explosions, the infections charged forward and the Stealth soldiers answered in kind by sprinting forward that was rather medieval.

Gunfire sounded from the city and soon the reports were coming in, from not only the ground forces but the ships in orbit too. They were surrounded; the main forces of the Creepers were still here waiting to ambush them.

"The city has more infections," the Admiral said, calm amidst the battle and regardless of the reports. He pulled his favored weapon from his robes, a spear, and signaled for the dozen soldiers he commanded to move forward into the ruins.

Kaitlin followed, with her weapon raised but she was behind the others with Mary. Ahead of them they saw a line of soldiers fighting with the infected Stealth aliens.

Chief Vale was there as well, his red fox tail easy to spot among the soldiers. He was crouched on the ground, aiming with his rifle when a infected Stealth threw some sort of weapon at him. The Chief rolled to the side, brought his paw up with his sidearm and fired at the Stealth. He didn't lose his momentum and hurried forward, switching from each weapon of his, including his sword, with ease.

Others followed him, pushing forward with enthusiasm that Kaitlin did not expect. Maybe the hope of the Lead General and the Admiral prodigy returning gave them their morale, or their eagerness to finally fight back against the alien parasite.

It didn't take very long before the Admiral's squadron broke up, engaging different infections that they've found. Kaitlin followed her pack toward the docks, straying a few dozen meters from the Admiral as they fought and killed the infected Stealths coming from those docks.

Kaitlin was on one dock while the others were still fighting near a warehouse further back from the shoreline. She was aiming at a couple Steal infections, docking behind some heavy-lifting machinery. One tried to charge at her but was greeted by a few bullets to the small smooth-skinned creature. It instantly fell back and rolled off the dock, splashing into the water.

Without any notice, some of the machinery started to move toward her just as the second Creeper charged. She put several rounds into the creature but the bullets did nothing against the infected machinery.

There was a strange pop, and a few seconds later the machine was engulfed in a thunderous explosion that threw it off the side of the dock. The blast nearly deafened the wolf, but she was able to glance to the adjacent dock where Alex. The weapon he held had just fired a grenade at the forklift-like machine.

The water rippled from the explosion, and from the heavy machine falling in. With the dock cleared, Kaitlin turned back to the warehouse to rejoin her team. The ground started to shake, which she would have assumed from an explosion but the water around the docks were rippling heavier. The ground shook more violently, something burst through the roof of the warehouse in front of her. Wind blew out from the explosion, nearly knocking the wolf over.

Peering through the roof was a massive serpent like creature, with smooth skin and a long body. Dust and debris fell around it while more of the creature emerged from the ground. It had no other appendages and appeared like a sea serpent, except for the fangs that looked more like horizontal pincers that one would see on an insect.

The creature turned its strange head toward the docks, at the wolf pack and other soldiers around it. A few had recovered from the shock enough to fire at it but the bullets didn't seem to even bother the creature. It spit some sort of liquid at a couple of the soldiers, missing them by mere inches but the acidity of the liquid burned through the dock.

Kaitlin was just starting to stand up again when the creature dove at the same soldiers it spat at. This time it didn't miss, crushing one under the creature's weight and swallowing the other. It moved like a snake, turning and rearing back up before snapping at more soldiers.

The force of the creature slamming into the ground kept her on the ground, but she tried to crawl away from the rampaging creature. She watched her wolf pack regrouping around Alex on the other dock as they continued to fire at it, using even more of their grenades but the serpent only had small wounds as a result. From across the dock, it looked like A.J. was suggesting they jump in the water but the waves were still growing stronger. Just as they were about to jump in the water, they saw the cause of the waves. In the distance, three blurred ripples were swimming toward the dock. Emerging in a shower of the seawater, rose three more of the snake-like creatures. She watched one of them poise to strike at her team, rearing over fifty meters high and glaring down on them.

From the corner of her vision, she saw the white fur and coat against the pale grey sky of the morning dawn. Eyes fixed on the serpent she could only see the white tail streaming in the wind as its owner landed on top of the creature's head and plunged a spear straight through its head. The creature thrashed its head back that shook the fox off, who landed lightly fifty meters below on the dock with Kaitlin.

The serpent who just had a spear penetrate its skull fell across the adjacent dock, nearly crushing the wolf team as they jumped back. It lay still with its massive body on the crushed dock, but it could have only been a small portion of the entire creature.

The nearest serpent dove toward the white tailed Admiral, who stood only a couple meters from Kaitlin. She jumped and rolled out of the way, just as the creature smashed into the dock. Water and shattered pieces of the dock rained around her as she was again knocked to the ground. In a daze she looked up, unable to register the serpent in the warehouse was being bombarded and overwhelmed by grenades and rockets.

Glancing back toward the sea, she saw that the serpent that attacked her and the Admiral had a gash that nearly severed its head. Admiral Alexander was relaying orders on his headset, standing next to the slain creature. The third that was on the far side of the dock was attacking some other soldiers but quickly a scream of a fighter squadron marked its death by blowing it to pieces.

"Wolcott pack," the Admiral said into their speakers, even though Kaitlin could hear him from where she was. While she stood up, she heard the warehouse serpent crash to its death as well. "More of these serpents have been reporting popping up throughout the city. Go hunt them down. Use explosive rounds and aim for their heads."

"Yes sir," Alex said from across the dock. A.J. was pulling Yuri from the water, who must have fallen in when the Admiral killed the first serpent.

"Recruit the local soldiers to help bring them down," said the Admiral, walking pass Kaitlin and off the dock. "Alexander out."

Alex waved for Kaitlin to rejoin with them but she was distracted for a moment by the nearly headless serpent on her dock. There was very little blood, and she saw why. The blood was freezing solid on the edges of the cut, and even some of the water off the dock nearby had a very thin layer of ice growing.

"Does he have new weapons?" muttered Kaitlin. She turned away from the dead serpent and rejoined her team.

"Admiral Alexander is trusting us on hunting down these things," Alex said once she was there. "Four of them are down so let's start adding more to the pile."

Moving back into the city, the wolf pack heard the sound of artillery fire falling from orbit. Kaitlin saw the streaks of the missiles crash landing beyond the horizon, beyond where the Stealth army was fighting. More ships from orbit were landing with more ammunition, weapons including artillery batteries, combat vehicles and troops.

"Creeper reinforcements inbound," Fury, the artificial intelligence, announced. "The fleet has to break orbit. One confirmed 'Klienestov' inbound. Planet forces, you're on your own for now."

The battle continued to wage throughout the city, around its outskirts, and spreading across the continent. The serpent creatures were brought down one by one, and the day saw no end to the fighting. By the time the second day was dawning, a strange storm was brewing near the edge of the continent, bringing fierce winds and lightning.