Loola wastes no time grabbing her crew. The slender waif disappears through the door to her crashed ship and emerges a moment later with two other Riga women. They are both slender and tall like she is, with that familiar elfin quality in their faces. One has jet black hair, and the other is sparkling blonde. They both wear light and billowy dresses like Loola, but these ones are blue.

“Let’s go!” Vax shouts. Before I know it we’re back in the throng of the jungle, running across the dirt, hopping over fallen trees and pushing our way through endless yellow palm leaves. The stunning amber sky is slowly fading into a vivid crimson dome of fire. The sun is setting, and dark is getting nearer.

We all jog through the jungle, speaking little, saving our breath for the trip back. It might be an hour until we get back to the ship at this pace. I just hope we’ve left that thing far behind us in the distance. I don’t know exactly what an Arnok is, but Loola’s comment suggested the alien jungle bear was fricking huge. I wasn’t really in the mood for facing giant hungry alien bears right now, so I put one foot in front of the other and keep pace with Vax.

I’m actually a little surprised at my fitness today. When we first landed here all those hours ago I was nearly ready to collapse. I feel like I could run a marathon now, which is especially strange because back on earth I used to get out of breath if I ran up the stairs too fast.

“Have you seen any sign of the Horkax while you were here?” Vax shouts to Loola as we vault through the jungle.

“No. They shot us down two days ago. We activated the distress signal on the Felesian framework, hoping the Horkax couldn’t detect it.”

“Smart. Lucky my ship picks up that framework. Not a lot of ships do.”

“Well we couldn’t broadcast on the main galactic framework. The Horkax definitely have access to that. They used it to stalk us here. I’ve heard reports on the Riga framework of several ships getting shot down. It looks like they’re out for war.”

Vax half-laughs without missing a beat. “How long have you been on this jungle planet? I guess you didn’t hear what went down.” He catches Loola and her servants up to speed. There’s no time to stop, so we call carry on, but I can tell they’re all shocked. The black-haired Riga, Phasma, looks especially taken back.

“Earth is gone?”

“Not yet,” Vax says, “but it will be soon. The Riga really fucked things up for everyone.”

The Riga women have nothing to say in answer to that. We take a short breather five minutes later before resuming our travel. Monroe patches through to Vax not long after that.

“Some slightly positive news sir,” his voice crackles in from Vax’s wristband. “I picked up the Horkax fleet-ship signal and it is moving away from our landing point. I still can’t pinpoint its origin, all I can say is that it’s nowhere near us.”

“Great to hear Monroe, we’ll be back at the ship in the next half hour. Prepare the engines and charge the drives for a lightspeed take off. The Horkax will be on our tales as soon as we fire up. I don’t want to give them a chance. We’re en route with three survivors. Over.”

There’s a slight feeling of relief in the group at hearing that the Horkax have moved away from our position. It gives me a renewed sense of energy and I feel a wave of strength in my bones and muscles. We’ve been trekking through the jungle at a moderate speed for quite some time now, and I actually feel pretty good. I’ve never enjoyed exercise before, so just what the heck is wrong with me?

I feel as if I’m slipping into a rhythm with my exercise when Vax scrambles to a stop and throws his arms out to catch us. “Stop!” he says through a loud whisper. We all skid to a stop in the dirt with our chests racing, trying to figure out what’s wrong. The Riga with golden hair, Vyra, breaks the silence.

“Is something wrong?”

Vax spins around and shushes her instantly. “Quiet! That thing is here. In the clearing, ahead!”

We all squint through the yellow brush and see the outline of a giant bear that is easily the size of an elephant. Its fur is long and matted, and thick tusks protrude all across its body. It’s lying on the ground as if it’s sleeping.

“We should go around,” Loola suggests. “If we stay quiet we might be able to—”

A sound that is both alien and loud breaks the silence. It sounds like a laser hitting a bandsaw. Metallic and cold. As soon as the sound rings out a chunk of bark explodes from the tree next to us. We all duck instinctively and turn to find the origin of the noise.

There in the trees in front of us is a Horkax alien on some sort of hoverbike, pointing a laser pistol straight at us. The mandibles on its face move as it says something in his weird sounding language, which just sounds like clicks and scraping to me. It finishes talking and everyone looks at me. Can they understand what it just said? Loola is the first to speak.

“Her? You’re crazy. She stays with us. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll move on bug.”

The Horkax shakes its head and lifts the laser pistol. Before it can fire, a bolt of crimson blue rips through the air and explodes the creature’s head. I stand there with my mouth hanging open and look over at Vax, who has his black staff pointed up in the direction of the dead bug.

The bug’s bike lets out a large wailing sound and we look back to see it’s dead operator has slumped over to one side. Its hand must be pulling at the accelerator because the engine is roaring out of control. The bike spins up in a tight loop, riding up into the sky until its owner is flung from the spinning wreckage into the jungle below. We all watch in horror as we realize what happens next.

“Oh crap,” Loola says.

“Indeed,” Vax says.

The hover bike falls back to the earth, its engine flailing loudly. It hits a tree and goes up in a ball of brilliant red flame that sparks across the sky. The sound of the explosion is deafening. It’s so loud I have to cover my ears. We all stand there in stunned silence for a few seconds before another noise shatters the quiet jungle. This one is loud, much like the first, but there’s something so much more horrifying about this one.

We all turn slowly and step back to see the silhouette of the alien bear shifting awake. The behemoth stands on legs as thick as trees and lets out another monumental roar. Vax readies his staff, grabs my hand and starts running.

“The ship isn’t far! Follow me and stay close! This thing is too large to fight!”

We sprint into the jungle, steering around the clearing that holds the bear, hoping that we might be able to get away fast enough. We’re just on the other side of its sleeping spot when we hear the sound of trees breaking behind us. A roar follows that is so loud it shakes the bones in my ribcage.

“It’s chasing us!” Loola screams from behind. Vax and I are running at full speed, but Loola, Phasma and Vyra all overtake us with relative ease a few seconds later. It’s moments like this when I don’t appreciate my curvy figure so much. The slender alien women look like deer sprinting through a spring meadow.

I do the foolish thing and look back, seeing the ferocious jaws and eyes of the alien bear maybe fifteen feet behind us. It’s got us in its sights and is thrashing through trees like they are matchsticks.

“Vax!” I shout. “It’s closing in on us! Vax!”

He squeezes my hand tighter and pulls me along. “Just keep running! We’re almost—”

We come to stop to see the three Riga women in front of us. They’re stood in front of a sheer face of rock that has come from nowhere. A quick glance to the left and right reveals there’s no easy way around it.

“Trapped!” Phasma shouts. “We’re going to die! We’re trapped!”

We turn to see the jungle flattening under the approach of the ferocious bear. It must realize we’re trapped, because it drops its speed to a predatory prowl and approaches the edge of the jungle line that curves round just in front of the wall. We all step back, the sheer rock behind us getting closer every second.

The beast has a mouth full of yellowed fangs that are easily the size of a fist. Its black eyes have glossed over with a hollow black that can only be filled by the taste of blood. It steps forward and sets a heavy paw into the soil.

Vax speaks to us all in a whisper that is low and grave. “If you want to survive then you all have to do exactly as I say. Get behind me and stay still. I’ll handle this.” He takes the slowest step forward and lifts his black staff up, pointing its end at the face of the creature.

Slender hands pull me back and I realize it’s Loola and Vyra. They pull me back from Vax and shield me behind them. I want to be there at his side to help, but I’m also immobilized with fear. We’re all about to get torn to shreds by a giant alien bear, and there’s nothing we can do about it.