Klaxons sounded through the bunk house, accompanied by flashing red lights. A calm, measured voice spoke over the intercom, “Attention all hands, the Calm Before the Storm has come under attack, all crewmen report to your stations. Repeat, the Calm Before the Storm is under attack, all crewmen report to your stations.”
“Keep calm,” Kiera ordered over the klaxon, “If we all try to stampede out of here it will only cause an issue. Those near the exits begin to leave, no one push, let’s file out calmly.”
The cadets did as they were ordered, aided by Kiera’s soothing, waiting for the people near them to exit before heading towards the one that was closest to their station. Every cadet was jogging, it wouldn’t do any good to arrive at their stations out of breath and running through the corridors would only cause collisions. Kiera’s orders snapped some of the cadets out of their dazes.
The ship shook as Kiera jogged down the halls, the alert repeated itself. Ahead two of the cadets had lost their balance and fallen to the floor. Without a second thought Kiera helped the first one to his feet while a cadet behind her helped the other. The ship shook violent and a bulk head crashed behind them, cutting the others off from the corridor.
“Sound off are you all okay!” Kiera called.
“We’re fine!” Hailey called over the noise. “Keep going, we’ll find another way around!”
“Be safe, Halo!”
“You, too, Sunshine!”
None of the mecha had the launch preparations made and the bays were just lighting up. She ran to the console as soon as she was in the bay, but it was offline. It shouldn’t have been but she didn’t have time to think about it. Purple, Red, Black and Gold squads were assigned to this hanger. There was no sign of any of the other cadets. Where were they?
Her PUC wasn’t remote starting any of the mechs. The first thing all the Mecha squad did was link their PUC to their assigned jaeger; the ten squad leaders determined which squad had which mechas. This wasn’t right. More explosions rocked the ships. Her squad should have been right behind her, where were they? The launch bays beneath her exploded, the suction of the air pulled her over the bar, through the doors and out of the ship.
Kiera found herself in the atmosphere of a planet and falling quickly. She didn’t have a jetpack, but did have her parachute. Feren had told them to sleep in their uniforms for just this reason. She didn’t see any sign of the unknown enemy that attacked them, or the starfighters. Only other cadets. Some of them were tumbling in the air, others had managed to rotate themselves onto their stomachs and spread their arms and legs into a star pattern as if skydiving. Her training kicked in.
Kiera tried to face the ground with her feet above her but it was proving difficult. She pulled her arms to her sides and her legs together and rotated so her stomach was facing the ground and pulled the tabs on her built-in parachutes, then spread her limbs. She was grateful for Captain Feren’s suggestions.
Kiera didn’t know what she could do, she knew why her squad wasn’t with her, but she wasn’t the first one out of the bunks. She knew Ramirez was on Red Squad and was in front of her. Where was he and why wasn’t anyone from the squads in the other bunk room at the mecha bay?. She didn’t go to the wrong one, did she? No, it was a straight shot for her. Target focus, she had been so focused on reaching the mechas that everything else fell away. It was the same thing that happened during the bar hang at the Officer’s Exam..
Someone dove past Kiera wearing a heavy black suit painted with purple and silver stripes. It took Kiera a moment to recognize that it was a suit of power armor and whoever was wearing it was a member of the Armored Special Forces. She remembered from her studies that their suits could withstand heavy impacts and they all had jump jets or rocket packs to cushion their falls if they weren’t being deployed in a drop pod. The sight of the armor gave Kiera a spark of hope and she activated the distress beacon on her PUC.
She watched the jetpacks on his back and feet ignite, sending him shooting towards the surface like a rocket. He grabbed a falling cadet and started to pull up and use the jets to lower both of them to the planet. Others streaked past her locating their targets and turning a deadly free fall into a rescue. She started to relax, one of the ASF cadets overshot his target; he pulled out of his dive and flew back up to catch up. How many people could be saved? How many ASF cadets were there? They had to be outnumbered by everyone else. At least the mecha cadets should be fine, letting the ASF take care of everyone else.
Who was attacking them? Where were the lifeboats? Why hadn't the Everlight contacted them? A falling mech fell past her, but it was in pieces that started to explode. There wasn’t an attack on it, and it shouldn’t have exploded like that? By Astria’s Tail what was going on?
The sound of weapon fire sounded above her and her slow descent became a free hall, as holes were punctured in her parachutes. Kiera looked up and saw an ASF cadet hurtling towards her weapon in hand. His weapon was charging; There was nothing that Kiera would be able to do, she couldn’t dodge and an attack like that would kill her. She saw more weapons fire strike her assailant’s jetpack, boots and weapon, disarming him.
Her savior activated his own jetpack and shot past the now flailing man. Kiera pulled her legs together as the cadet pulled out of the dive and wrapped his arms around Kiera. He changed the speed of his jets so they were slowly falling. He scooped Kiera up into a Princess hold, letting her wrap her arms around his neck.
The wind was blowing too hard for her to hear anything from her PUC and she was grateful that the flight suit was keeping her warm. There were a few lifeboats that had been launched and they were catching some of the other cadets who were falling. Kiera looked up, not believing her eyes. The Everlight was firing upon the Calm Before the Storm. Starfighters flew out of the ship and exploded seconds after leaving the hangar causing chain reactions. Falling mecha exploded. The drop pods flew into the lifeboats and exploded. Liandra was a starfighter pilot, she would have gone to her station when the attack came. A couple of fighter pilots ejected before their ships were destroyed, Kiera could only hope that Liandra was one of them.
After five minutes of controlled falling they landed. The cadet put her down and raised his plasma rifle surveying their landing site. Kiera steadied herself on a tree trying to get her breathing under control. The Everlight had attacked them, destroyed their mechas, their starfighters, their lifeboats. Why? This wasn’t anything that Peregrine would approve, no admiral in their right mind would order something like this.
“Thanks for the save,” Kiera murmured, looking around. They had landed in a dense forest, snow clung to the higher branches of the trees. The ground was wet with yellow grass, marking the season as early spring. At least, that’s what Kiera thought it meant. There was something that felt off. She took off her belt and stepped out of her ASF. Underneath was her battle uniform. She retrieved her belt and put it back on.
“No problem,” the cadet said, surprising Kiera with a feminine voice, “Riley Dax. Are you okay? Do you need medical treatment?”
“Kiera Sol,” Kiera replied, shaking her head, “I’m okay, I think. Shocked more than anything. The Everlight was attacking us.”
Riley jerked her head up, but couldn’t see anything through the trees, “I saw others in my division attack other mecha and navy cadets. I’m not picking up any emergency beacons, not even yours. Something’s jamming the signals, comms aren’t working either,” Riley said, “You don’t have any kind of survival gear do you?”
“Only a couple of survival bars. I started carrying one around in my flight suit and my casuals ever since I was kidnapped,” Kiera replied, “Do you have an extra weapon?” Only security officers were allowed to have their weapons on them on a starship, hers were on her mecha and likely destroyed.
Riley unholstered a blaster pistol and held it out, “My sidearm, I’ve got a signal flare as well.”
Kiera took the weapon and looked through the treetops, “The flare would be great if the canopy wasn’t so dense. We should make our way out of this forest. We should run into someone else and we can use our flare once we’re under open sky. I don’t think we’re too far from the forest’s edge, southeast from our position will be our shortest course. What do you think?”
“There is supposed to be an IR beacon that was set to be our rally point, but I’m not picking it up. It’s probably out of the forest. When possible, watch the sunrise,” Riley said, “I agree that’s the shortest course, but I saw a few of the lifeboats were heading to our west, southwest. That might be our best bet.”
“Then let’s split the difference and head due south,” Kiera suggested, “Are your comms down?”
Riley paused, “Yeah…We should stay close. You sure you’re okay, Kiera?”
“You said that already, didn’t you?” Kiera asked, “Honestly I’m not sure, here take your pistol back, I probably shouldn’t have it.” she handed the weapon back, “How are you in your armor? I thought it took a while to get one.”
“Lukka sent out an order for everyone to suit up, that we had ten minutes to be drop ready and the drop was in fifteen. Ten minutes after the command came through the ship came under attack. He ordered us to drop and grab whoever we could and to rally at an IR beacon but not approach. The whole thing seemed really strange, but I trust Lukka. He also said not to follow any orders we got from Laney,” Riley explained, “Squad leads all thought it was strange when we were suddenly switched to night shift. At least, a couple squad leads like Lukka were.”
Kiera frowned “Major Peregrine didn’t get the memo that we were going to be unsupervised on a ship. I saw mechas and starfighters explode as they fell or were launched. I don’t like this at all.”
“We should get moving,” Riley said, “Comms aren’t working so we’ll need to use flares. If you need it I can carry you.”
“Thanks,” Kiera said, “I’m okay to walk.”
The forest was larger than either of them thought, and it began to grow dark after a few hours of walking. There had been no sounds of wildlife as they walked, no bird song, animal chatter, or the buzzing of insects. Every tree looked the same; the trunks were wet and many had thick moss that came off easily. Neither woman liked the idea of spending the night on the ground, their anxiety had grown steadily by the hour as they walked. Kiera wasn’t sure why but she felt like they were intruders in the forest, prey to be hunted. The nearest branches were twelve feet off the ground; with Riley’s jetpack it would be easy to reach them. Riley lifted Kiera in her arms, but nothing happened.
“Is your armor disabled?” Kiera asked. It was a dumb question; if Riley’s power armor was disabled she wouldn’t have been able to move. Kiera connected her PUC to it to run a diagnostic, chiding herself.
“Power’s at forty percent, the jetpacks are energy hogs but that’s more than enough for a quick jump into the branches.” Riley said, not putting Kiera down. “Sensors seem to be working fine, the moss is edible, I have temperature reading and the weapon charge gauge is showing up. When I look at you, the medical scanner shows that you’re uninjured, and I got the notification when you connected your PUC. Are you seeing anything different?”
Kiera scrolled through the diagnostic readout. At first everything looked like it was operating within acceptable parameters. She did a focused scan on the jetpack and frowned as she saw the results, “According to this the link chip in your jetpack is non-functional. Let me release the jetpack so I can….ugh. I don’t have an arc spanner to be able to open up the pack for repairs.”
“That’s odd, all of the suits were checked and verified. It’s going to make getting into that tree a bit more difficult. I might be able to boost you up to the branch, but I won’t be able to climb up after you and Pulling me up in this armor isn’t really an option, Gargax is probably the only one who can lift someone in their armor,” Riley said, “Dropping the jetpack would make it lighter, but I don’t think that will make much of a difference.
Kiera looked around the area, trying to find something that could be used as a rope or a pulley. She took a clump of moss from a tree and captured its image with her PUC.
Sponge Moss: Classification - Flora. Toxicity - None. Nutrition Value: High. Uses: Consumption, Absorption, Comfort. Additional Information - Sponge Moss moss grows on trees in areas of high rainfall. It is nutrient rich and can be used to clean up all types of liquids thanks to its high absorption rate. If Sponge Moss is wet it can be combined with other clumps of wet sponge moss to create simple objects. Once it dries, the moss becomes firm and soft. Applications: Pillows, bedding, rations, water storage.
She took another clump of the sponge moss from a tree and pushed them together. Instead of sticking together they squished like a pair of rubber playground balls. If they found a source of water they could get the moss wet and possibly make a rope out of it and pull the armor into the tree. Kiera didn’t recall seeing any ponds or streams as they were falling.
“Hey, Rae,” Kiera called, “You don’t remember seeing a pond or—” she looked up, the higher branches were sagging under the weight of the snow.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“A pond? No, why do you ask?”
“This is sponge moss, according to the database it can be fused together when wet and is super absorbent. When it's dry it's firm and soft, used as bedding and pillows, which implies that it’s pretty durable. This moss is too damp to be fused and tears easily. But if we can knock some snow off the trees, it might soak up the snow or we prime the plasma rifle to melt and absorb it. Then we can make a rope and haul up your armor.”
“That’s clever, but I don’t think the rope will hold me as I climb,” Riley said.
“No, but it will likely hold each piece of your armor.”
Riley stared at Kiera, surprise and admiration flowed off of her. She looked up at the snow then down at Kiera. She was obviously considering the idea. Turning to one of the trees Riley tore a clump of moss from it and looked at it in her hand. She slowly lifted to look at Kiera again. “The link chip is disabled, but if you connected your PUC to the jetpack, could you activate it?”
Kiera slowly nodded, “Yesh, it's how they’re tested before they’re linked up to the suit. I’m not sure how high the output level can be. When O’Donnel was explaining how to perform the stand alone tests he cautioned us on the output so we don’t send a jetpack flying around the room.”
“Let’s use that to try to get into the tree. I’d rather not take my armor off,” Riley said. Kiera could feel a wave of insecurity and embarrassment roll off of the other girl. Was it because she didn’t want Kiera to see her in her plug suit? The insecurity could have been attributed to not wanting to spend the night on an alien world without protection, but the embarrassment made her doubt.
Kiera walked over to Riley and connected to the jetpack via her PUC, Riley lifted her into her arms. The jetpack responded to Kiera activating it and she steadily increased the power output until they were ascending into the sky. When they reached the first tree branch Kiera set the jetpack to hover and climbed into the tree before helping Riley and shutting off the jetpack.
“Thirty-five percent power,” Kiera commented, “You were right, the jetpacks are energy hogs.”
“It's why we only really use them to break our falls or for jump assistance. Usually enabling them one hundred feet to landfall. Rescuing pretty cadets who were jettisoned out of a starship into atmosphere is a pretty substantial outlier.”
“What’s going to happen if you run out of power?” Kiera asked.
“I’ll have to get out of the armor. On an overly hostile world that usually means death so we activate our distress beacons and hope that someone comes along to find us. Not that the distress beacons have helped us yet, but to be fair we are moving.”
“Activate distress beacon, find shelter, water, and food,” Kiera said, “Nothing in this forest has counted as shelter. So we had to move.” She looked around the trees, climbing to a higher place would be easier now that they were in the tree. So would moving between branches within the same tree. “There might be nocturnal arboreal predators, we should post a watch. Do you want first or second?” Even if there were, being in the tree would be safer.
“I’ll take first.”
Kiera took some of the sponge moss from the tree trunk and spread it on the branch in an attempt to make it softer to lay on. It helped a little and before she knew it the forest was pitch black around her. She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face or where Riley was sitting only a few feet away. The cadet’s helmet granted night vision, and Kiera hoped she was wrong about the arboreal predators.
It was a sleepless night, unable to see put Kiera on edge, she could feel that Riley was on edge as well, which didn’t help. Kiera couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep, she couldn’t move if something happened because the wrong movement would send her falling to the ground and while it wasn’t a long fall, any fall could cause an injury. She was grateful when Riley took the strap off of her rifle and used it to tie them together. If Kiera fell she’d be safe, if Riley fell…Kiera just took it as Riley looking out for her and left the other thoughts alone. An inhuman scream caused Kiera to jerk up to a sitting position, she heard the whirl of Riley’s plasma rifle start to prime, fear rolled off the other cadet.
Kiera’s heart pounded in her chest, she couldn’t sleep before and she wasn’t going to now. The trees had distorted the sound, the rustling of branches and the sound of snow being dumped into the ground did nothing to alleviate the fear or tension that had taken hold of Kiera; if anything it made the fear worse. The PUC had a flashlight, but at this point any bright light would only be detrimental. In the distance was the clear sound of plasma fire. Kiera jumped again and glad Riley had better trigger discipline than those cadets. She hoped they weren’t encountering whatever made that awful scream.
“I really don’t want to ask, but did you see anything that might have made that sound,” Kiera whispered. In the silence of the forest it sounded like Kiera was shouting.
“No,” Riley replied just as quietly, “But, I don’t think you should be out on that branch. I’m going to take your hand and guide you closer to the trunk.” Kiera reached out and felt Riley take her hand. She slowly stood up and walked towards the trunk. It was a trust exercise, one that felt like it took much longer than it actually did.
Riley sat down and pulled Kiera into her lap, protocol be damned. Kiera linked her PUC to Riley’s jetpack, if something happened they could fly out of there, at least that was Kiera’s thought. Even a blind jump through the dark would be better than being eaten by whatever supernatural horror was lurking in the woods.
“I just thought of something,” Riley said, “You won’t be able to take a watch until dawn, my helmet won’t work for you unless you’re in the suit.”
“Yeah, I could connect my PUC to it and project but all I would get is where you were looking and moving your head while you slept doesn’t sound very fun for you.”
“There is no way I’m going to sleep after I heard that noise!” Riley whispered.
“Me neither,” Kiera admitted, “But I also don’t want to go stumbling through the dark.”
Another terrible scream punctured the night and the girls clung to each other, each one shaking in fear. The night grew colder while they waited for the sun to rise. Kiera’s combat uniform kept her warm,but she was sorely missing her helmet. Her ears started to hurt and holding her gloved hands over them only helped so much. Light began to filter through the trees; the night was over and there had been no appearance of the screaming beast.
“Get some sleep, Rae,” Kiera said, “my turn to watch.” She climbed to her feet and stretched out. Powered armor wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sit on.
“I’m not going to be sleeping after that, Kir,” Riley said, “Okay, need a different nickname for you if we’re going to be familiar with each other.”
“Kara,” Kiera said, “Another night like that and we might have to get you out of that armor and become very familiar with each other,” she sensed surprise from Riley, even anticipation. Kiera hadn’t meant it as an innuendo, but at this point working off some nerves didn’t sound like a terrible idea.
Not being able to see the dawn was irksome. There was no birdsong in the forest, no chattering of squirrels or rustling of leaves. It would be peaceful if the silence didn’t seem so threatening. “I’m going to climb up higher and see if I can determine how much further we have to be in this forest.”
The climb to the top of the tree was both easier and harder than Kiera thought it would be. The branches were spaced evenly apart and provided no end of handholds and footholds to use. The issue came when she neared the crown. The snow had made the branches slick and they were much more flexible than the limbs below. When Kiera pulled on one to climb onto it the branch bent towards her and then immediately righted itself.
Kiera was flung from the tree, struck the surprisingly hard canopy and began to fall. Riley’s jets roared to life and she flew from the tree. Seconds later the jets shut off. Riley caught Kiera and held her close as the fell to the ground. The armor absorbed the impact, jarring Kiera only a little. Kiera murmured a thank you and stayed in Riley’s arms until the special forces member put her down.
“I couldn’t get through the canopy,” Kiera said, “So do you want a chocolate survival bar or moss for breakfast?”
“Oh, I’m okay,” Riley said, embarrassment washing off of her.
“No you’re not. We were dumped off a planet in the middle of sleeping and subjected to a cold sleepless night with some horrible monster screaming in the woods. If we want to get out of here we need to move and to move we need energy. Is there a reason you don’t want me to see your face? You’ve saved me twice now, I practically owe you a kiss.”
“I’m Andoran,” she said simply.
“So is my little sister and her spots are adorable.” Kiera asked, “Are you afraid to show me yours?”
“I’m not like other Andorans,” Riley said warily.
“Cadet Dax, you could have stripes, three eyes, or a tentacle mustache and none of it would bother me. One of my boyfriends is an ork, another is a Moreau. My brother is Alteran, I have two girlfriends, and I’m a nymph. So, tree moss or survival bar?” Kiera said.
Riley took off her helmet revealing rich, red velvet hair, a sprinkling of freckles on her fair face and mismatched eyes. One was a dark purple, the other was royal blue. Her spots began at her forehead, spread down her jaw to her neck where they disappeared into her plugsuit. There were wisps of stripes interspersed with the spots with no pattern to their appearance. Her cheeks were flushed.
“By Astria, you are absolutely gorgeous! So, what’s the issue? The heterochromia or the super cute freckles?” Kiera asked after a moment of drinking the other girl in. Her smile grew, “You are stunning. Just how far down do those spots go?”
“The whisker marks,” Riley said, “The stripes in the spots. The heterochromia and freckles, too.” Riley looked away, her face flushing deeper, “My hair color…”
“I’m going out on a limb here and guessing you were the subject of a lot of bullying. ASF is a way to prove you’re just as good as everyone else by being a certified badass,” Kiera said, “But honestly, Rae, you’re beautiful. I’d make out with you in a heartbeat.” The compliment caused Riley to blush even more. Kiera walked over to her and rested her arms on Riley’s shoulders, “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“If you w-want to kn-know how far my spots go, you’ll, um—” Riley stammered.
“What would you like for breakfast?”
=+=
“Winters must have a lot of heavy snowfall for those branches to evolve like that,” Kiera commented.
“Must stay for a long time, too,” Riley added, “There was still snow on them.”
The pair continued through the woods, Riley once more wearing her helmet. They took advantage of the snow and used the sponge moss as impromptu water skins. It would need lots of sun to dry out enough to harden. The Semi-dry moss on the trees had a strong grass flavor but a texture like rice cakes. Like most nutritional foods it wasn’t terribly appealing but it was at least palatable.
The day warmed as they walked and they exited the forest when the sun reached its zenith. Rolling hills of yellow-orange grass spread out on rolling hills in front of them. There were several rocky outcroppings scattered across the landscape and a small stream could be seen sneaking its way down the hills from somewhere to the west. It was the wildlife that really caught their attention.
A small pack of wolves lazily sunned themselves on the tallest outcropping. Each wolf was covered in thick gray-brown fur and stood at least five feet tall at the shoulder. One of the wolves was hanging vertically from the rocks as if spying on the others. Another pair were chewing through an outcropping as if they were trying to expand the den.
Thick furred mammoths with two trunks grazed on bright red berry bushes that grew like wildfire near the stream. The mammoth’s fur was the color of steel and their large curved horns had a silvery sheen to them.
A creature half the size of the mammoths with a thick hide, long face and sported two pairs of ivory horns on its head grazed on the grass. The horn lowest on its nose was the largest with a smaller one following it. From the top of its head were two horns gently curved towards its face. The last six inches of all four horns were raven black.
“Crag wolves, black tipped diceros, and razorfur mammoths according to identification,” Riley said. “There could be unused dens in some of those other outcroppings and we can gather moss to eat. We’ll want to head upstream to get drinking water. Still no signs of any distress signals. My scanning range is declining as well, I think I see the IR beacon…but it’s nothing the Empire uses.”
Kiera crouched down and scanned the grass, “Sizzle grass,” she said, “Infamous for scrambling signals. The planet is likely covered with this stuff. We’ll have to find some outcroppings that don’t have wolves on them if we can’t find a lifeboat before night. According to Koda, they won’t attack us unless we approach the dens.”
“Good thing we have flare guns,” Riley said, taking hers out. She pointed it straight up into the air and fired, a plume of red smoke painting the sky. The sound of the discharge caught the attention of the wildlife. One of the crag wolves looked up with curiosity and then lost interest. A diceros lifted his head and a mammoth trumpeted. A plume of red smoke filled the air, easily standing out against the blue-gray sky.
A few minutes passed and a column of purple smoke appeared to the northwest followed by a white one. Two other red flares streaked into the air, one from the southeast and one from the west. A green flare also streaked into the sky from the south. The red flares meant a team was signaling position. They were used to tell rescuers where the person firing was. It also meant that they were unharmed and could make it to an established camp on their own. The purple flare was giving the location of a camp and the white one meant there was someone with medical training. A black flare signaled a rally point if no one had established a camp and a green flare was a call for aid. If the green flare had been accompanied by a yellow one it would have meant the people who sent it were in danger. Orange was used to signal that a party from a camp had reached a location known to the rest of the people in the camp.
“Looks like someone has set up a camp,” Kiera said.
“A few of them,“ Riley commented as a purple flare came from the south and another to the southeast.
“Let’s head south to the group that’s requesting aid,” Kiera said.
Riley fired another flare, this one was a thick dark blue that stood out against the light blue sky. It told those that were in danger they were coming to their aid.
They continued forward, keeping a distance between themselves and the wildlife. The crag wolves wouldn’t bother them unless they got too close to the den; they would only attack humanoids if they were starving. Diceross took anything approaching them that wasn’t a diceros to be an enemy, no matter how far away you were; get into a certain range of them and they would charge. The problem with the diceros is the “threat range” was different for each individual and if two or more diceros charged then the entire herd would. The mammoths were docile, they could be approached and won’t bother anyone unless you tried to take their food or approach a calf. Only predators with hard hides would attack them because their fur was sharp enough to cut most things that touched it. If they felt threatened they would use their trunks to shed, filling the air with tiny blades that was usually a death sentence.
All three animals were extremely valuable. Crag wolves could cling to any stone surface, their teeth and claws able to cut into any stone except for gems. Biologists didn’t understand why. Their fur was extremely soft and desired for blankets and fur coats. The Diceros horns were made of ivory, the black ivory tips were especially valuable. The razorfur mammoth horns were also made of ivory with natural silver running through it. The mammoth silver was considered by some to be on par with eladrin mithril. The meat of the mammoths was considered a delicacy and their fur could be treated to make it soft and no longer dangerous. Neither woman believed they were on a training world.
They had to alter their course several times to avoid walking towards the diceros, some of them would move keeping their eyes on the crag wolves. One in particular seemed to be especially aggressive. The wolves didn’t pay the diceros any mind and stayed on their rock. The girls strayed too close to the den and received a warning growl from the largest of the wolves. They both froze when they heard the growl. The wolf didn’t look like it was going to attack and looked down at the den they were near; a small wolf pup was at the edge of the den and watching them. They started to backtrack and give the diceros an even wider berth. The wolf likely saved their lives. As they retreated from the den the diceros that had been primarily responsible for their course corrections charged the wolf pack.
The outcropping that the wolves had claimed shattered upon impact, scattering the pack. Had they continued on the cadets would have been trampled by the several ton creature. The wolves immediately retaliated, surrounding the diceros and lunging at it, attempting to create openings for their packmates. The other diceros didn’t respond to their herdmate’s predicament; one even turned around to continue eating. One of the wolves was gored on the massive nosehorn of the diceros,the death of their packmate seemed only to enrage the crag wolves. The beast bellowed as the packleader sank its stone hard fangs into its flank and then charged again, straight towards the girls.
Kiera activated the jetpack and sent Riley flying into the air, saving the armored woman’s life. The charging beast clipped Kiera with its horn, only the soft corpse of the crag wolf prevented her from dying immediately. She was thrown to the ground, stunned by the impact. The diceros stomped on her leg, crushing the bone as it continued towards its herd, the second foot of the large beast followed the first exactly, Kiera didn’t even have time to scream as she passed out from the pain.