The dropship shook violently as it breached atmosphere. Jay clung to his seat. The drop simulators were nothing

like this. On the shelves, equipment boxes rattled against their guard rails. The whole ship felt like it would fall to

pieces. Vinny smiled as the ship shook.

"Thaaat feeeeels gooood." He said, his voice shaking. Hope rolled her eyes. Synthia smiled. April, surprisingly,

looked just as nervous as Jay was.

"How you hold'n up, Sarge?" Rochelle asked. April looked at her.

"Fine. Drops just make me uneasy." She said. Vinny looked at Jay.

"They're the only thing that's can make the Sarge freak." He said. The ship steadied, and Lance spoke over the com.

"Alright, we're in atmo. Your free to clean up any messes you may have made during breach." He said jokingly. April

unbuckled her self and walked up to Clay in the APCs command seat.

"Hey, Sarge." He said.

"Hey, how's the camera feeds?"

"They're all working. Look for your self."

April looked at all the screens. All of the Marine helmet cams were working fine. She glanced at the feed to the

dropships external cameras. She saw something in a tree.

"Woah! Pan back on that screen!" She yelled. Clay pulled a switch back and the camera slowly turned around. They

were now to far to see.

"Damn. Out of range."

"What did you see?"

"I don't know, but it looked human."

Clay shrugged. April sighed and grabbed a com head set.

"How far are we from the colony?" She asked Lance.

"A few miles. ETA 10 minutes." Lanced answered.

"Alright, thanks Lance."

"No prob."

April took off the head set and turned around. Jay was reading the Xeno guide.

"How's the studying Jay?" She asked. He looked up at her.

"Alright, I guess." He answered. "You coulda told me about the whole Facehugging thing."

"I told ya to keep one in the chamber didn't I?"

Jay turned the page to a larger, tan colored Xeno. It had what looked like dreadlocks coming from its long head. On

each side of its mouth were crab leg like mandibles. Its tail blade had a hook on the back of it, giving the

appearance of a meat cleaver.

"What in Gods name is that?" Jay asked. Vinny looked at the picture, and actually frowned.

"Oh, that thing." He said. "We call em Stalkers."

Everyone in the APC turned at that name. Jay didn't like that. Vinny continued, "They're big, nasty motherfuckers.

Exo-skeleton twice as thick as normal Xenos, and three times as stealthy."

"Why do you call them Stalkers?" Jay asked.

"Because, they don't just kill you, they make a sport out of it. They toy with ya, take their time. Then when they

finally decide to kill you, they take your head like a trophy. "

Jay gulped.

"We don't know what the hell they burst from, and I personally don't wanna meet them. What ever has hunting so

near and dear to their hearts that its embedded into their DNA, must be one bad customer."

April walked up.

"Alright Vinny. Enough stories." She said.

"I'm just warning him. No harm in that right?" He said. Synthia looked at Jay.

"In any case it is highly unlikely to encounter a Stalker. The odds are 3 in 10." She said. Jay looked back at the

book. He still didn't like that chance. Lances voice came over the coms.

"The colony is in view." He said. April and Jay went to the camera screens. Jay saw the colony getting bigger on the

screen.

"There it is." April said. "Eagles Perch. Saddle up people, we gotta job to do."