This is the moon Titan. It may look like a sepia photograph of an inhabitable planet...but it's a universal treasure, just the same.
The Great Powers of Sferë think so, too. For that, they send warships to Titan. On the surface, the titanic locals might not look like they need protection. But in the grand scheme of things, most of the Titans who live here are just fashion models with little or no military ambition. Plus, there are just as many jungles down there as there are on Sferë. Where that is, the two worlds are kindred spirits.
From Sferë, a warship is on its way. It doesn't bear the roundel, or the colors, of any of Sferë's Great Powers. Alas, a lot of its strongest crewmen-the masters-at-arms, MPs, bosun's mates, cannoneers, cannon crewmen, and gunner's mates, especially-are from several of them. This warship...a space frigate, as it is, made in Mauritania (and once commissioned in her elected malik's navy, before this)...is the commonly-owned property of a military cartel.
Still aboard, Donny is still very-much unaware...and indifferent. He's not here to take sides. He's here because he's been offered a challenge away from the monotonous. He already knows that the air force won't give him a better offer...even if he is just a junior airman.
In orbit around Titan, the space frigate docks at a space fort. Like the frigate itself, the space fort bears no colors, roundels, or IFF amenities of any kind. Once it has docked, a hangar encloses itself around the frigate's gunwales.
From a hull hatch/air lock, the crew disembarks. This includes Donny. He straggles. He knows that space travel is a thing now. Alas, he STILL doesn't know how he feels about being 1,300,000,000 clicks away from his wife...allegedly protecting her.
OTOH, this is a "challenge," as it was sold to him. For all he knows, his wife's welfare's got nothing to do with this. Hell, he should've thought about that before rising up to it...
Even so, SOMEONE on Titan thinks that there's a threat down there. Besides, Donny's protected his wife a billion times in plenty of other fronts. A challenge on Titan shouldn't be too hard...even if the average Titan is ten times his own size...if not bigger, considering that Donny's not exactly a well-fed specimen of his species.
While wandering down a passageway, Donny passes a porthole/bulkhead. He slows, backs up, and observes what happens through it.
He sees a white man and a black woman. Both are in space suits. They don't wear uniforms, but Donny can tell that they seem high-ranking.
He has no idea that these two personalities are who run the military cartel for whom Donny will work for, while on this mission.
Donny watches them talk. The black woman wears a Medal of Honor...on a golden chain around her neck. The white man wears a pistol in a holster. Donny knows a thing or two about that pistol. In Colorado, one needs a firearm-specific license just to purchase one.
It's bound to happen...and it does. The black woman notices Donny...and stares at him. Once the white man senses what she's looking at, he does, too...
From nearby, a hand ensnares Donny's arm, and tows him along.
That was a bit terrifying...but Donny thinks he can rebound. He's rebounded from SO much worse, after all. He can't foresee his combat injuries on this job being any different...even if this is his requiem mission...
Far below, on Titan's surface, there's a jungle that bears many characteristics of Sferë's Congo. The trees are short and umbrella-shaped enough for a Titan...but MUCH bigger for a Sferë human.
Between mountains, the rivers flow. Many waterfalls separate the highest peaks from the Gulf.
Downriver, the hippos are almost prehistoric. They're bigger than Titans...and TOO bigger than humans. They've tusks and fangs.
Some of them can't even walk, and have fins instead. These would be more like river dolphins...if they weren't more like river orcas.
Lucky for humans, the crocodiles don't get very big...for a Titan. They're still big enough to scare, and even attack, humans... Even so, the Titans tend to give them their space. Most Titans hate trouble. A lot of them hate being rushed.
In the jungle's canopy, the rollers and hornbills are much bigger. They're big to the local Titans. They're not quite ostriches to the Titans, though; to them, they're more like pheasants and/or turkeys. Even so, it's because there are humans on Sferë who know how big Titan pheasants are that a lot of poachers come from Sferë to hunt the moon's more endangered pheasant species.
On the upside, the military cartel isn't sending Donny here to poach endangered pheasants...or endangered anything. On the downside, it is a delusion, in contrast to what will really happen because of the mission's success...
High in the jungle highlands, among the flora, there's a POW camp. Here, many human mercs have been captured. Their captors are still amused at how many digging tools and how much construction equipment they've confiscated from this outfit... Where they come from, most mercs carry actual weapons...
Not that these didn't. As a matter of fact, these weapons are very high-tech, despite most of them not being much bigger than a carbine. A few mortars were confiscated, too...
Around the perimeter, titanic hyena-like creatures march patrol in pairs, occasionally hissing as they go along. These hyenas are six times bigger than their counterparts on Sferë.
In the battlements, linsangs and fossas perch, with weapons, fangs, and claws cocked. On average, they're five times bigger than their Sferë counterparts.
Many of the battlements are robotic. Bunkers are mounted on their turntable swivels. From them, automatic gunnery awaits any POW who tries to escape. Some of their guns are multi-barreled, and revolving...
Not too far outside the perimeter, a stone lies. Deviously, it's moved...from beneath. A hole opens under it. From it, a pair of mercs sneak out.
Wary of the hyena patrol nearby, they sneak out as deviously as they can. Once the first has helped the second out of the hole, they lie prone across the ground, and creep towards the downhill jungle...dragging weapons and supplies along. Not too many; just enough to help them evade likely capture.
From the ground before them, a periscope emerges. They both freeze, and stay still. They wait for the periscope to do a full revolution...and for it to stop spinning-and-peeping...and still maintain their cover, as the periscope returns to its berth.
Relieved, the duo crawls on. That was too close...
Alas, from above, a robotic crowned eagle swoops, and drops a pair of grenades. They land before the two escaped POWs, and start smoking.
Before either of them can react much, they start hacking away, like crazy. The gas isn't just a poison gas; it's a mutagen.
From all around, the patrol clan approaches. They're the hyenas that patrol the perimeter. With eager expressions, they keep back from the cloud of smoke, as it does its own part to make them stronger...
The smoke clears...and reveals two more of their number. They seem confused...but otherwise helpless to embrace their mutagen-induced hyena urges.
One, who appears to be their alpha female, yowls orders. They both seem to understand, as they both dive down the mountain at super-speed, and assume a longer-distance patrol of the perimeter.
It's just as well that these POWs were rehabilitated, in a way, during their escape. As I said before: none of the camp's captives are what they seem. And whatever mission they're coming back from..."peacekeeping" has got nothing to do with it.