Atmospheric reentry was always the hardest part for Kaz. The turbulence did a number on his two stomachs giving him waves of nausea. The heat shields of their ship didn't seem to be doing an adequate job as by the time things leveled out his fur was matted to his skin.

"Does the calfling have a tummy ache?" said Gei, one of the other soldiers on the dropship. "When we get down there just hit the Bems with your fop sweat and we'll take over this Val forsaken planet in no time." That got an uproar of laughter from his supposed comrades in arms. None of them appeared to be much better off than he did, however, he was the youngest and therefore the lowest ranked member of the squadron.

Commander Ont's voice on the intercom brought him reassurance, "Ancestors be cursed, that was rough." Knowing that even the glorious commander had difficulty made him feel slightly less inadequate, "We will be landing soon in the local city of Chi-Ca-Go. Medical Advisor Rem says all scans show no signs of life. This is highly unusual for a city this large. Keep your horns up. We are here."

The light from Bem stung Kaz's eyes for a moment as he stepped out of the ship onto the soft grass of the park where they landed. His hooves sunk in slightly from the weight of him and his gear. There was a nip in the air and his breath fogged as he exhaled.

Suddenly, a Bem stumbled out from behind a small building and began to slowly stagger toward the squad of ten Kirks. "I thought you said there were no signs of life," Ont growled at Rem.

The medical advisor fumbled several times as he pulled out his handheld device and quickly scanned the area. "Sir.' he answered back, clearly frazzled, 'it must be the equipment. I am still showing no signs of life."

The Bem was getting closer. It oddly showed no indications that he was afraid of the invaders at all. Gei noticed this and raised his weapon, "Halt!' he yelled having been trained in the local language, 'Another step and I will shoot."

The Bem ignored him and kept wobbling toward the group with only a moan as an answer. Gei nonchalantly shrugged and fired a single shot perfectly through the Bem's chest. The male staggered back a few steps but kept walking forward as if it was unfazed.

Kaz could not believe his eyes. That shot should have killed the Bem. It should have killed any living creature. Yet, here still, it came plodding along like it had not a care in the world. He heard another moan from his left, then another from his right, then more from behind him. Soon, more Bems were lumbering out of hiding seemingly drawn by the blaster fire. One turned to ten, ten to twenty, twenty to a hundred. Then, before he knew what happened, they were surrounded.

"Sir?' He shouted nervously, 'What are your orders?"

"Open fire on a few,' Ont instructed calmly, 'They appear to be unarmed. Once some of their comrades go down, the rest will disperse. We are here to fight enemy combatants, not civilians."

The Commander' logic made sense to Kaz. He raised his blaster to aim at the nearest Bem. This one appeared to be already injured, a bone stuck out of the male's arm and blood soaked one leg so bad that Kaz wondered how he could stand. He took carful aim at center mass and fired. A direct hit did nothing to slow him down even a little. All around Kaz, it sounded like his comrades were having similar experiences.

One Bem got close enough for Kaz's comrade, Twa, to run up and hit the female in the head with the butt of his blaster. This proved to be more effective than anything they had done thus far as she didn't get back up after that. Unfortunately, Twa could only celebrate his kill briefly. As his back was turned, another Bem came up behind him and sunk its teeth into Twa's neck. Without a clean shot, Kaz ran up and bashed it in the skull the way Twa had earlier.

This one looked even worse than the other one. One arm was completely ripped off and his intestines were gone. Everything that should have been in a normal healthy mammal's middle was missing. Kaz's head was spinning. He couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening. He was a member of an elite squad of hardened soldiers from the greatest planet in the galaxy. Somehow unarmed (in some cases literally) and apparently ravenous civilians were overwhelming them. The only thing he could do was fall back on his training. He ran up to Twa and began to preform emergency field aid. As he pressed a bandage to Twa's neck to stop the bleeding, he heard a scream from his left. The Bems were engulfing another comrade, Rop. His cries of pain as their teeth tore into his flesh did not last long as they soon found his vital organs and his life functions ceased. He had to swallow the urge to vomit again as he watched the Bems devour Rop, pulling bits of him apart like the wild predators back home. He knew he had to get himself and Twa out of there and back to the ship if they had any hope of survival. Just as he bent down to pick up Twa, Kaz's head and torso was covered in blood and gray matter. Directly before him, a Bem dropped to the ground, the top of its cranium completely missing.

"Shoot them in the head!' Yelled Gei from behind Kaz somewhere, 'It seems to be the only thing that keeps them down!"

Doctrine dictated to cover those rescuing the injured, likely the only reason Gei would save him. Kaz wasn't complaining though as he hoisted Twa over his shoulder and slowly made his way back to the ship. Those left alive also fell back to the safety of the aircraft and soon they were off the ground and returning to space.

"What in all the cursed ancestors what that?' Gei, face covered in spatters of blood, yelled violently to nobody in particular. Then to Rem directly, yelled, 'You said there were no signs of life!"

Rem was busy trying to stabilize Twa, but he managed to stammer a response, "Th-Th-There was nothing on the scanners."

"Did you see those things?' Kaz interjected, 'I would hardly count them as living."

"Oh the Calfling decides to speak! I am surprised you were not too busy manureing in your pants to do anything useful like save Twa there," Said Gei with as much scorn as he could.

"Quiet!' Commander Ont's presence demanded attention, 'We need to stop bickering and evaluate our present situation. Rem, how many comrades did we lose?"

"Sir, we lost three…I apologize, four, Twa has just gone to meet his ancestors."

Ont lowered his head in shame and reverence for the fallen. "How could we, I, have been so ill prepared?" He asked with disgust.

Nobody had an answer.

Finally, Rem spoke, "Sir, if I may. By all our reports and training, the Bems should not have reacted the way they did. Something about them changed in the time it took from our last probe one Bem year ago and us to arrive."

Gei stood up and shouted, "Clearly someone did not do their accursed job!"

Kaz stood up straight and said, "Gei, there was no way anybody could have known the Bems would be like this, that they could survive such punishment."

"Get off of High Command's teat, calfling, it is because of their lack of information that three of our brothers were eaten and one lies dead behind me…And what is everybody staring at?"

Slowly he turned around and saw what everybody else did. The confirmed deceased body of Twa was now standing. The wound on his neck seeped thick black blood. His eyes fogged over white and he did not appear to blink or even breathe.

Gei shot Rem a foul look, sneered, and grumbled, "Clearly you cannot tell living from dead any more than your instruments can,' then to Twa said, 'Welcome back to the land of the living, comrade! Could you believe that idiot said you met your ancestors?"

Gei raised his arms for a traditional embrace of rejoice but was met with a deep bite instead. Twa took a large mouthful out of Gei's forearm and would have gone back for another if not for Kaz's quick thinking. He recognized that Twa must have been suffering from the same condition the Bems were. Immediately after the bite, he raised his blaster and fired one round into Twa's head, dropping him to the ground.

Gei's face was covered in more blood and brain matter. He wanted to attack Kaz for the perceived atrocity but found himself too weak to stand. Two others helped him sit and noted how hot he felt. Rem bandaged his arm and gave him some medicine for the pain. Rem apologized, commenting that it was all he could do until they knew more, though Kaz couldn't blame the medical officer for not looking TOO sorry.

Before anybody had time to catch their breath, another ship began hailing theirs for communication. Rop had typically been in charge of answering hails, but since he was with his ancestors via the Bems' stomachs. Kaz took it upon himself to answer to call.

Mol, a comrade from a ship Kaz knew had landed in the Bem city of Lon-Den appeared on the video screen. Kaz saw blood covering the male, and his right heart sunk. He knew their squad had met the same problems as his. The only question was who had it worse. "How many did you lose?" Kaz asked with regret.

Mol seemed hesitant to answer at first, probably ashamed, but at last he said, "Six. Six of our comrades met their ancestors because of those accursed Bems…Wait! Could it be? Glorious Commander Hew had met his ancestors, now he is rising back up to greet us! What a blessed day!"

"Mol! This may sound outrageous, but that is not your commander anymore. You must put him down before he kills the rest of you!"

"That isfoolishness. There is no way the Comman-" However, it was too late. Hew bit into Mol's neck causing a geyser of blood to splash all over the video screen. Kaz could not see what was going on, but he could hear the battle between the survivors and the recently reanimated corpse of their fallen commander. The skirmish was short lived, with the dead being the victor. It was clear they had not figured out to aim for the head. Kaz turned off the viewer secretly terrified where that ship would crash land if one of these "not-deads" accidently turned off the autopilot.

"So, what now?" asked Gei through gritted teeth. He then answered his own question, "Never mind, first we get me to the Home ship to get my arm fixed better than what this idiot did."

Ont thought for a moment then said, "I do not think that is the best idea," The look Gei gave Ont would have gotten him court martialed on a normal day, but Ont let it go, given the circumstances. He went on, "We have taken heavy losses, as have likely countless others of our invasion force. Gei, you are bit and possibly infected with some unknown Bem virus. We cannot risk spreading that to the Home ship where others will also be retreating as well."

Gei growled under his breath but did not say anything else. It made too much sense. "So what now?" He asked again.

For the moment, none of the Kirkian survivors of Dropship Twelve had any idea.