“Sir, You should return to your rack.” Ni’lan argued the moment he spotted Wolf walking beside an obviously concerned Ta’lek.

  “Stow it sergeant. It sounds like we’ll need every rifle we can get on the line.” He countered. As he placed a hand on the trench covering the misstep by stepping up to gaze over the corpse strewn field.

  “Sergeant, you have eyes on the approaching civies?” He asked watching as what appeared to be a bunch of civilians marching arm in arm toward their position.

  Ni’lan and Ta’lek shared a look. Pinging her on a private channel he asked. “You didn’t tell him?”

  “I haven’t, he’s still suffering from overexerting his brain. He can fire a rifle, but I’m still evaluating his cognitive abilities.” She replied before opening a channel between the three of them. “Lieutenant, the imps are using the beast-kin’s families and friends as a screen to keep us from firing on them. So far they haven’t fired on us but in turn we can’t hit any of them without risking the civilians.” She explained, her voice dripping with venom.

  “Who do we have on over-watch?” Wolf asked, his tone deathly calm.

  “Henderson, To’lin, Indal, and Ya’ren.” Ni’lan answered.

  Wolf nodded recognizing the names of the best shots from the pods under his command. “Have them dial down the power on their clickers and aim for the civilian’s binds. At low power it shouldn’t do more than cause minor burns but should free them.” Turning to Ta’lek he said, “Have one of the adult beast-kin use the pod’s sound-system to tell them what’s going on just before they open fire."

  The pair stood frozen for a moment before Ni’lan pinged the snipers with their updated orders and Ta’lek took off at a power assisted sprint back to pod Delta-Two.

  ***

  Hrroll did her best to console the pup next to her. “It will be alright little one. We will keep you safe.” She said, the words sounding hollow to her ears.

  The sniffling continued earning the ire of the human conscript behind her. “Shut that mongrel up or I will.” They threatened.

  Cringing away from the man she did what she could to quiet the child bound as they all were. It was then that the growling barking language of her people came from across the field. “The Rangers are going to free you. It will hurt but as soon as your bonds are burned away drop and run forward. The Horonak have sworn all that make it will be under their protection.”

  The message repeated once before she felt an intense burning on the bonds to her right then the left. With a yelp and jerk she found she was free. Looking to the child she found them on the ground clutching their arms and sobbing. Without thinking she scooped up the child and began to sprint across the field as bullets began to zip past her from both sides.

  Hugging the pup tightly to her chest she continued to sprint even as several rounds cut into her arms one finally finding it’s home in her shoulder just a few feat from the edge of the trench. As she began to crawl she saw two armored figures leap out. Each held a rifle in one hand and were firing even as they grabbed her and roughly threw her into the trench before falling back. Landing on either side of her.

  As soon as they landed one of them dropped to a knee, the smell of burning plastic permeating the trench. The other Ranger looked at them and took a step towards them only to be waved off. Throughout the entire exchange Hrroll couldn’t hear anything other than gunfire and explosions interspersed with cries of pain from the line she just fled.

  She was brought back to the present when the kneeling Ranger gently touched her shoulder and said, “Follow me Ma’am we need to get you and your kid out of the trenches.” Unfortunately, the voice that come out was a low growling base. The sound reminded her of the stories her mother used to tell her of demons that would slip into their homes and take naughty pups.

  The pup whimpered and Hrroll instinctively tightened her grip and turned putting herself between the evil thing and the child. The featureless matte black faceplate swung up revealing a human, their face a mixture of pain and… embarrassment? “Sorry bout that Ma’am. I’m O’gren,” the soldier said sheepishly. A moment later his face grew serious and he lept onto the pair.

  Hrroll clawed at the man’s face just before an explosion rocked the trench. Now that he was so close she finally heard a voice speaking, “Here comes another volley, keep those civvies safe troopers!”

  There was another explosion and she heard the man grunt before the same voice called, “All clear open up!” and O’gren groaned as he stood and grabbed Hrroll behind her head forcing it down and all but pulling her through the winding concrete maze until she began to hear the familiar barking growling language of her people.

  “Doc! Got a wounded woman and her kid here!” He called his faceplate still up giving her a glimpse of blood dripping down his chin but not the wound she gave him.

  “O’gren, the fuck happened to you?” Called a voice she recognized. Hissak appeared from thin air as usual, and grabbed at the human’s helmeted head turning it one way then the other.

  “Leave him be Sak, I’ll look him over after I patch her up and check on the pup.” A feminine voice admonished. Another suited figure appeared the faceplate retracted. She was a Horonak and looked haggard. Even still she gave Hissak a glare before turning to her and the whimpering mewling bundle she carried.

  “You two are safe here Ma’am,” she said as the woman led them to a place along the cold concrete wall. “It’s not ideal but it’s the best we can do at the moment,” she said as she first looked over the scrapes and cuts along her arms, finally settling on the bullet wound to her shoulder.

  “I’m gonna scan this to be sure there aren’t still bullet fragments or worse in there then one of my assistants will finish patching you up.” She explained pulling out an odd hand-held device that glowed a faint blue.

  After slowly running the device over her shoulder the medic said, “your lucky day. It’s just a through and through. I can’t see any additional damage. Now lets check on your pup.” With a tired if reassuring smile she gently pulled on Hrroll’s arm wrapped protectively around the furred bundle. It was then that she noticed that the child was a small felanid while the woman was a wolfin. Instead of mentioning it she just focused on the child saying. “Hello there little one. Where are you hurt?”

  “They burned my arms,” they said through hiccuping sobs.

  “Well let me see if I can do something about that.” The medic said in a motherly tone, pulling an aerosol spray can from a compartment on her belt. “This will numb and disinfect the burns. It’s gonna be cold for just a second then you’ll feel better.”

  The child nodded but tightened their grip on Hrroll. It was over in only a few seconds. “There is that better?” She asked. The child nodding enthusiastically. “Good, now I’m going to leave you with this nice lady while I take care of my friend ok?”

  The child pouted cutely but nodded. The armored figure retreated back to O’gren. Hrroll was able to overhear, “Dammit Private you know we need all the shooters we can get and you nearly get your eye’s clawed out.”

  Before she could stand to apologize Hissak was beside her his hand on her shoulder. “He will be fine. There are more than one ranger with cybernetics. You on the other hand need to let me bind your wounds.”

  ***

  “Ahg Doc I’m fine stop trying to spray that shit. Save it for the civvies.” O’gren complained.

  “Shut up, sit down, and let me patch you up or I’ll feed Ni’lan your forth point of contact!” Ta’lek growled her gaze freezing his blood.

  “Copy,” he muttered suddenly very still. She sprayed something over his face including his ruined eye.

  “Lucky for you I know a few Horonak that would dig the scar and chrome your Gonna get when we are back aboard the Chattanooga,” Ta’lek said as she gave the area one last once over before patting his shoulder. “Button back up, not much I can do about the shrapnel or the suit damage, until the FOBS gets here,” she said and left to deal with another patient.

  As O’gren turned to return to the line he spotted Hissak waving him over. “Everything alright Sak?” he asked.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He was surprised to find the beast-kin woman he had saved looking like a scolded puppy.

  “Hrroll, you’re the one that wanted to talk with him.” Hissak admonished lightly.

  Hrroll nodded and finally looked up, her eyes falling on the deep gouges and ruined eye on the left side of his face. Unable to meet his gaze she looked away instead, “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have hurt you.” She said her eyes fixed on the floor.

  She said it so quickly O’gren could barely understand what she said. When it finally clicked he involuntarily moved to touch the wound before chuckling. “You were trying to protect the kid, you have nothing to be sorry about. Besides I’m a Ranger keeping people safe is what we do Ma’am.”

  Squatting he made eye-contact with the felanid child still clutching Hrroll. He reached into a rear compartment in his armor and pulled out a candy bar. Glancing to Hissak he asked, “You know if this would be safe for your people to eat?”

  Looking over the wrapper Hissak chuckled. “It will be fine I used to steal those from the guards when I was a child.”

  With a grin O’gren focused on the child again. “You’ve been so brave I think you deserve a reward,” he said holding the candy out to the child. They looked to Hissak who nodded and swiped the candy-bar before O’gren knew what was happening.

  O’gren’s grin widened before he stopped himself a part of his mind reminding him of the cultural courses they had to take. Bared teeth was a sign of aggression to most of the beast-kin subspecies. When both the child and Hrroll grew concerned he was confused.

  “What’s wrong?” He asked only for Ni’lan to appear behind him grabbing his drag bar and yank him upright. “Stop bothering the Civvies. Your face is only going to scare them.” He bellowed before giving the trio a curt nod and respectful, “Sir, ma’am, little one.” Before dragging the larger man bodily through the bunker and back into the chaos that was the trenches.

  Ni’lan let him go once they were in the trenches. “Report to Corporal Nakamora. She is about twenty meters down the line.” He ordered.

  “Copy sarg.” He barked taking off down the trench. He made it ten meters ducking as rounds whizzed overhead. He stumbled when a round struck the edge of the trench sending Quick-crete to pelt his armor. “On the wall they’re making a push!” Inulb yelled at him just before she took a hit. O’gren watched as the back of her helmet exploded blood, bone and brain matter being ejected. O’gren stood frozen as her body tumbled into the trench.

  He was snapped out of it when Ni’lan grabbed his shoulder and shoved him into a wall. “Snap out of it trooper!” He ordered as he moved past him, grabbing the dead woman and unceremoniously shoving her out of the way. Treating her corpse as if it was just an inconvenient obstruction.

  When O’gren still didn’t move Ni’lan sighed and gripped him by his pauldrons. “O’gren, I know you’re scared shitless. So are the rest of us, but if you don’t get on that wall and start killing imps we’re all dead.” He said in a fatherly tone.

  O’gren shook his head then nodded and gripped his rifle. “Yes, sarge.” He barked taking Inulb’s place and opened up on the charging mass. A moment later the pod’s Kinetic batteries opened up the eight point five mill projectiles ripping through the imp’s frontline.

  A cheer rippled from the trenches only to be replaced with shouts of “APC!” across the line. A moment later O’gren’s HUD updated, highlighting a heavily armored vehicle. His HUD labeled the mounted turret as a thirty millimeter gauss cannon. He barely had time to register the information before he was pulled down as the trenches were raked by fire.

  “I need launcher teams to take those fuckers out!” he heard over the platoon channel. He couldn’t place the voice before he heard the booming of the cannons move to target the pod. In moments the Kinetic weapons on the sides of the pod were annihilated. While the APCs were focused on the pods the AT teams fired. In moments two of the APCs O’gren saw were blown to pieces.

  O’gren was about to pop back up when he heard, “Blackout! Blackout! Blackout!” on the all hands. O’gren instantly blacked out his visor a moment before he saw a dull grey flash across his FOV. Another two APCs were turned to slag their icons disappearing from his HUD. “Twenty seconds before next salvo!” Wolf called as their line opened up again.

  O’gren continued to engage for what felt like twenty minutes before his HUD flashed BLACKOUT. Ducking down he could hear the hum of the point defense lasers in the sudden quiet. Another flash lit up his visor as the high energy photons lanced through the clouds of smoke and dirt slagging another pair of APCs.

  O’gren popped back up only to see another wave of APCs rolling in. His face contorted into a scowl only for him to begin screaming his defiance. He knew they were all dead but he wasn’t going to be alone. If he had his way he would meet the end drenched in imperial blood, his rifle firing.

  He ducked down to swap mags when he heard, “Orbital strike incoming, danger close.” From an eerily calm voice. A moment later his world became a blender. The earth heaved dropping from beneath him only to snap back with bone crushing force. Everything hurt but he pushed through the pain struggling to his feet. O’gren found he had somehow been thrown twenty meters into what was once the enemy line.

  Looking around he saw pulverized dirt, mud and blood. Several other troopers were stumbling around in a daze. “Sappers incoming,” came another call and he looked up seeing the tell tale streaks heralding the Monzard Sappers entering atmo. He heard a cheer go up only realizing he was a part of it when his throat began to throb.

  He was brought back to reality when Ni’lan called over the comm, “Get your asses back to the trench. That won’t stop the imps!” O’gren grunted and stumbled back to the crumbling trench line.

  Slipping into the battered line he looked around finding he was one of the lucky few. Several crumpled bodies of his fellow troopers were strewn around him most filled with holes seeping life-sustaining crimson. He opened his faceplate and puked from the scene only to continue retching from the smell. A corporal he didn’t recognize slapped him on the back ordering, “finish spitting it out then button up private the imps are bound to be coming back soon.”

  ***

  Ta’lek barked orders as soon as she heard Nickelson had regained contact with the fleet. “Get that equipment strapped down now!” she barked for the third time as she ushered the last of the beast-kin and wounded into the pod sealing the hatch to protect them from the pressure wave.

  “Orbital strike incoming, danger close,” A calm voice called over the comm.

  “Hit the de…” She started to order as she dove to the floor only to be cut off as the world shook. At first she swore they had dropped the ordinance right on top of them until the world stilled.

  “Check for wounded!” she barked getting to her feet ignoring the pain all over her body, and the alerts that she had several cracked ribs and a broken arm. Staggering to the ladder she heeded her own order only to find a worried felanid kitten poking their head through the now open hatch.

  “Please move little one,” a gentle voice called as the child was hoisted out of view replaced by Hissak. “Everyone is alright up here. Just a little rattled,” He said, though his shaky voice showed how freaked out he actually was.

  “Any injuries?” She grunted as she started climbing into the packed pod. Her arm flaring with pain every time she used it, even with the suit taking most of the weight.

  Hissak shook his head, “No the pod seemed to dampen whatever that was.”

  “Orbital strike.” She explained. “Imps should be licking their wounds for a bit after that,” she replied, when her comms beeped, “Sappers incoming,” the same calm voice announced.

  “Looks like we got reinforcements incoming, this should be over in the next couple of hours.” She said, grinning with relief.

  Her hope was short-lived when she got an alert, “Imp armor inbound! What’s the condition of those PDCs?!” Wolf called gunfire and explosions punctuating his words.

  “SHIT!” She cursed scrambling over to one of the councils and finding the PDCs offline due to fractured lenses. “Sir, PDCs on Delta-Two are down, lenses cracked,” she reported.

  Ta’lek heard the same from Delta-One, and Bravo-Six. Alpha-Four was the only one with a functional PDC and only one of the pair was actually functional. Her hope was dashed from the reports but she focused on what she could do. Moving to around the pod she began to check in on the beast-kin offering reassurances and checking on injuries. Hissak was mostly right that there were no injuries from the strike. However, a few of the children had panicked and scratched either themselves or others with their claws in panic.

  After a few minutes of bandaging lacerations she heard something on the all hands. “Hold still plains walkers we’re bringing the boom!” an excited hooting voice called. A few moments later she heard and felt explosions ripple. There was more hooting followed by the same voice call, “Hitting the dirt in five.”

  ***

  Lieutenant Hookan hooted with excitement as she watched the APCs explode from their mortar system. “Rookin flip the pods back and prepare for landing.” She ordered their AI. Switching to the troopers all hands she waited for the gee forces to lessen while their pod righted itself. “Hitting the dirt in five.” She called hearing cheers at the declaration from both her sappers and the ground forces.

  “Iknel is the equipment prepped for deployment?” She asked switching to her Platoon sergeants private channel.

  “All set LT, the straps will blow once we hit the dirt we’ll get that pad built in under ninety minutes.” He replied, as he forwarded the report to her HUD. She gave it a quick once over before dismissing it.

  “Good I want a full spread of HE and Air-burst fire the moment we hit. Can’t let the plains walkers have all the fun.” She hooted.

  Iknel let out a hooting chuckle as he said, “Copy that, we bring the boom! And the cycle continues.”

  Moments later they slammed into the ground just inside the trooper’s defensive line and the pod shuddered as their mortar system belched out explosive death to the hated imperials. “Ok Sappers, Honor the Cycle and build that pad!” Hookan barked

  Hearing the reply “We Build, We Break, We honor the cycle!” in the usual religious fervor her race had become known for as she lept into a specialized seat designed to accommodate her thick tail and plugged into the pod’s system.

  In moments she was hovering above the field receiving data feeds from the other pods in her drop group and the sensors of the plains walkers pods. In moments she was coordinating the use of multiple pieces of heavy equipment as well as directing her mortar teams to setup just behind the pods making up the defensive line. Linking into the command network she called, “Bringing the boom! Where are we sending it?”

  There was a moment of silence before Nickelson’s voice called. “Sending locations of functioning APCs and imp infantry clusters. Blow them to hell!”

  “Copy.” Was all she said as she sent the targeting data to her mortar teams.

  ***

  In moments what had looked like a hopeless situation had turned into a victory, even if it felt like a pyrrhic one. Wolf looked over the field as the imperial troops retreated in a full on route. The explosions from the mortar teams began to petter out as the imps got out of effective range. “Need anymore booms sent out?” A corporal Itan asked.

  Wolf continued to survey the scene for a moment before shaking his head. “Negative sergeant. Start focusing on targets of opportunity across the battle space.”

  “Copy ping me if you need more boom.” He replied the thumps of the mortars fell silent before they slowly resumed. Sending death to some other poor sods.