<<”Squad Captains, get your teams ready with full gear.”>> Lieutenant Colonel Laney growled over the commlink.

Something wasn’t right. The day shift was on a sleep cycle, and for whatever reason the ASF platoon had been changed to the night shift two days ago. <<“Should we ready the drop pods, sir?”>> Locke asked.

<<”No, they won’t be of any use to you. Launch the lifeboats, but don’t use them you’ll be dropping. Don’t bother with the bird’s unit or Markov’s fliers. You wanna grab some navy whores that’s up to you, but not a single flier.”>>

<<”Colonel, what is going on?”>> Locke demanded, <<”We’re not at our arrival destination yet, why would we be launching lifeboats? Why are we ignoring the MCC and NSF?”>>

<<”Mickleson, this is one of those times where you shut your farking mouth, say “yes sir,” and do what the fark I tell you. Emperor’s Balls. Just get it done. You have fifteen minutes.”>> The communication ended.

Lieutenant Colonel Laney was in charge of the Armored Special Forces division at the DNOA. His presence on the training mission was already strange, then there was this new order. The armor wasn’t the right one for survival training. It was commando armor. Like all ASF armor it was high impact with an attached jetpack for short flights and planetary drops with boosters on the boots, and enhanced their strength and endurance, but it also had injection points and had various stimulants to let them fight for days. All suit functions were controlled with either an interface band or a cybernetic implant that linked to the suit. All of Locke’s squad used the interface band.

Rescue armor was equipped with solar panels for recharging, wrist mounted cutting torches, increased sensor ranges, an attached medical kit, and external relay beacons. The weapons they were issued were charged pulse plasma rifles, pistols, and plasma frag grenades instead of a beam capable plasma rifle, a pistol, and gravity mines. It was wrong.

“Captain Locke Mickelson to Team Alpha, Gear up and be ready to drop. Pods will not be used. Drop time 15. Ready check in 10,” Locke ordered, <<”Mickleson to bridge, broadcast a message to the ship, get everyone up.”>>

The bridge didn’t respond but his squad did. No one questioned his order, making them better soldiers than he was. Or perhaps they just trusted him more than he trusted Laney; which wasn’t much.

He walked into the armory and saw several of the cadets getting ready, including Cadet Tamalyn Lanathar who had joined them at the beginning of the semester and was attached to his unit. She was a redheaded aasimar with incredible green eyes just over five foot tall and in the Medic Corps. They had to do a semester with every other branch while keeping up with their medical studies. She knew Gargax and his roommate made it a point to introduce them. He loved that ork. They’d hit it off well, and she made it a point to ask about his first aid training and offered to study together. Seeing her in the skin tight plugsuit that helped their connection with their armor certainly made his day. She walked over to him.

“Hey, Lukka, what’s going on? I thought we had another half a day to the training site,” Tamalyn asked. Her eyes flickered to his belt then back to his eyes, a bit of pink appearing on her cheeks.

“I don’t know,“ Locke admitted, “ I don’t like it. Do you need help armoring up?”

“There isn’t any armor for me, Bradley or Jerome. We’re supposed to have it, but when we checked there was nothing assigned to us and no extra,” Tamalyn said, “does that seem odd to you?” We

“This whole deployment seems odd,” Locke said, “Tam, stay close to me, okay? I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. If we’re being deployed out of this ship I want to make sure that you’re safe.”

Tamalyn blushed and glanced away, “Let me get some med equipment and then I’ll be right back.”

“Get a survival pack, too!” Locke said, turning and unlocking his armor pod to suit up. He hit his PUC again, “Full gear set up, survival packs included.”

Tamalyn wasn’t back when the ship shook ten minutes later. Klaxons sounded through the ship. <<“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.”>>

<<”It’s time. There’s been a change of plans. Get your squads to the planet, everyone else is disposable. There will be a rally point dropped visible with your IR sensors. You have ten days to get as many as your unit there as possible. After that you’ll have missed your ride. You can jump or wait for the ship to come apart, I don’t give a flying fark. Delta and Gamma squads remember your bonus mission. No one else get in their farking way.”>>

<<”The medical team doesn’t have suits,”>> Locke growled.

<<”Emperor’s balls, kid, I told you they’re expendable. All rescue operations are hereby denied. Consider this a hot zone you’re jumping into. You get one hundred percent and I’ll get girls so fine you’ll think the princess has saggy tits. Your whole world is about to change. Get your squads to the site and ignore everyone else. That’s an order.”>>

<<”No,” >>Locke said, <<”Void take you.”>> he shut off the comm link.

The ship shook, the cadets remained on their feet thanks to their armor. He opened the crew list, many of them were already in free fall. He ran to the emergency intercom. <<”Attention all hands! This is ASF Captain Locke Mickleson! This ship has been sabotaged and is being actively destroyed. Get to the nearest lifeboats! ASF get off this boat and grab whoever you can. I want a zero fatality rate to the planet. An IR beacon has been placed! Do not approach within five klicks of it, first team to reach it, Black Flag. Ignore anything the Colonel says, he has ordered us to let people die! His orders are no longer valid. Acknowledge!”>>

Acknowledgements flew in as his unit replied. He heard the naval cadets and the MCC cadets answer as well. His squad moved, heeding his orders. He contacted a lifeboat and ordered them to relay any ID signatures they could detect and catch as many people as they could, sending confirmation with each saved soul.

<<”Mickleson’s turned traitor! All squads follow your Captain’s orders as if they came from the Colonel himself! Whoever drops the princesses or the Traitor gets a bonus! Bring their bodies with you!”>> Laney’s voice came through the comms.

Explosions rocked the ship, Locke ran off towards medical looking for Tamalyn. She was trapped under a bulkhead, another girl was trying to cut her out with an energy knife. Locke grabbed the bulkhead and lifted it off of her, his strength enhanced by his armor. The floor gave out from under them. On reflex he dropped the bulkhead and looked around. Tamalyn was below him and the other girl, a blonde with pink tips was above him. He ignited his jetpack and swooped up, grabbing the girl who had a survivor's pack on her back before diving towards the aasimar medic. He grabbed her hand and then pulled her to him so he could hold her by her waist, just like the other girl.

Explosions surrounded him, different parts of the ship self-destructing, he saw the mechas come apart and explode, the drop pods turn in mid air and fly towards larger sections exploding on impact. One of them struck a lifeboat. The debris rained down but there were no life signs. His jet pack sucked all his power as he dove, dodging around pod missiles and debris. An impact warning sounded and he dropped the girls and turned to see a pod shooting towards him. He aimed himself towards the pod and flew at it.

<<”Void take me? You little asshole. Looks like I won’t get my one hundred percent. All you had to do was follow orders and you would have been set up for life. Never had to work again. Millions for killing a couple of princess—>> The Colonel’s voice sounded in Locke’s helmet before it fizzled out.

Locke charged his rifle and fired at the missile once the charge reached ten percent, any longer and he was dead. He turned away once he shot.The explosion sent him flying past the girls. Angling himself he slowed down, grabbing one then the other and holding them against his chest. The armor provided enough bulk that both of them were pressed together on top of him. His boots and jetpack shorted out as his suit lost power. All he could do was lie on his back. There were flaps to slow him but he’d need to be in a star position to use them. Instead he shunted all power to his impact systems. Dying with two pretty girls in his arms and saving their lives would be a great way to go.

=+=

“Okay, I’ll admit he’s cute, Tam. But you know he’s not my type. You’re my type, Kiera’s my type. If you think she’s a good kisser…you need to sleep with her.”

“I couldn’t,” Tamalyn said, “Kissing is one thing, but…okay, I’m tempted, she’s intoxicating but I’ve never thought about girls like that! You’re a doll and I don’t find myself wanting to make out with you!”

“If you’re wishing for it then maybe you want to. Kiera won’t pressure you and I don’t want to either. Let Kiera be your exception. How did we get talking about this?”

Tamalyn laughed, “You’ve been staring at Lukka since we landed and went immediately for mouth to mouth. You don’t do CPR for someone that might have broken their back…and is in power armor. Maybe he’ll be your exception.”

“I was…I mean…” there was a pause, “What he did is a turn on, grabbing me out of the air, grabbing you out of the air, dodging around all that debris and then throwing us towards the planet, and then flying up and blowing up a missile and then zooming down and grabbing us and making sure that we were pressed into each other so only he’d be hurt? How could any woman not fall for that, regardless of orientation?”

Tamalyn laughed again, “I’m not arguing and I’m not going to pressure you into anything, Kins. I was just teasing. He’s a really great guy. When Gargax saw me on campus he immediately picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and ran me to his room so I would meet Locke. When I left their room to check in Gargax followed me and said: “Boss nice eh? Good mate for Tam.” Tamalyn and Kinsley laughed, “Locke looked me in the eye and told me to make sure I was back so that he would guarantee that I survived the landing. I swooned. He’s pretty wonderful. Gargax also told Locke he had his blessing to sleep with Kiera if she wanted to.”

“So is Locke really great or is Gargax just the galaxy’s best wingman?” Kinsley said, laughing, “Trying to get Locke a girlfriend!” Tamalyn laughed with her.

“From what I’ve seen so far, I’d date him,” Tamalyn said.

Locke groaned, he should have done it when he was first waking up but he was too busy trying to figure out what was happening and who the girls were talking about. They knew each other, and both knew Kiera and Gargax. He sat up to find himself next to a fire out of his armor and the cute blonde girl in front of him. Tamalyn was behind him and apparently his head had been in her lap. Of course he had to move and not question why his head was comfortable.

“Welcome back,” Tamalyn said, “You saved us.”

“Just doing my job,” Locke said, “I’m glad that you two are okay. Any idea where we are?”

“Preserve world, there is spark grass everywhere and I caught sight of scramblers in the atmosphere,“ Kinsley said, “Kinsley York, I owe you one.”

“Locke Mickleson, and you don’t owe me a damn thing,” Locke said, “ASF saves people. Knowing a pretty girl like you is safe is good enough for me. Spark Grass, that means comms are out?”

“Our sensors will be, too,” Kinsley said, “More accurately, their range is only about two hundred feet..”

“We’ve already seen flares. We’ll start heading to one in the morning. I’m really happy that you’re okay, Lukka. I’ve been using my halo and I was afraid you had broken your back.” Tamalyn said. “I hate saying this but I saw ASF members firing at the other cadets, especially the MCC flight suits. You should get some more rest.”

“Lucky,” Kinsley said, “We’re lucky to have you with us. You probably saved a lot of lives.”

“We need to find the princesses,” Locke said, “Laney told me that he was going to get millions for killing them. Based on everything that he said, it’s Kiera in MCC and someone in NFS, I’m not sure who but I have a couple of guesses.”

“Liandra Feren,” Kinsley said, “She’s Kiera’s niece. Black hair, pointed ears, vibrant blue eyes. All around cutie.”

“Lily,” Locke said, “Gax introduced us on the ship.”

Tamalyn and Kinsley shared a look and a grin. Locke raised an eyebrow pretending that he didn’t know what they were talking about. He really loved that ork.

“Should we still head to that IR beacon?” Tamalyn asked, “If Laney told you to go there, then…”

“We will, after we link up with some of the others. Gamma and Delta squads are the ones who attacked, Laney mentioned special orders for them,” Locke said, “Beta will likely head straight for the beacon. Epsilon and Zeta could possibly be enemies as well. The others will probably follow my orders. I have a lot of questions, and there are answers at that beacon.”

=+=

<<"Holt! The Calm Before the Storm is under attack">>

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Leiella's voice immediately woke Holt Peregrine from a light sleep. His squad had been locked out of all tracking systems that would let them keep an eye on their cadets. Rodrick had said it was likely an error and promised that his engineers would get to work on it immediately. Holt left the room and immediately headed to his mecha. His squad was already gathered, but none of them had initiated the boot up sequence for their mecha. Holt frowned, it wasn't like them. He activated his own and frowned when his mecha Burning Sky did not start to boot up.

One of the crew of the Everlight, a man Holt didn't know, approached him. "Sorry Major, but we were given orders not to allow you to launch your squad. This is part of the survival training that the cadets are undergoing. The Captain said you would feign ignorance about it."

Holt said nothing and left the launch bay. He heard his team jogging to catch up, at least Nevis, Merely, and Farosh. Feren moved too quietly to be heard. Nothing about this expedition made any sense. First Saia Pelegos had been removed from her ship for unauthorized transport of a mecha team. It wasn't unauthorized. Holt had suspected Kiera's death to be fabricated, especially after the signal came from Dalimar. Planetary Security may not have found anything, but he knew Kiera too well to think that she would ever give up on escaping. Saia and the Everlight as well as Paragon Squad were on standby to respond to any further distress signals from Dalimar.

"Leiella, find out if Talbot Meteor is still on the ship. He was in charge of the night shift under Saia. He should be able to tell us exactly what is going on. Jericho, head back to the launch bay with Nevis. I want you two in your mechs and in space as soon as possible. Solanthus, you're with me. We're going to pay a visit to the bridge," Holt ordered.

His squad dispersed following orders.

The view screen on the bridge showed the Calm Before the Storm in critical condition. It was in the atmosphere of an unknown planet. Lifeboats, starfighters, and mecha were being launched from it under fire from the Everlight. He couldn't tell if any of the cadets were in freefall, and none of the mecha looked like they were being piloted. A scowl appeared on his face when he watched one of the mecha self-destruct.

"What the hell is going on here, Roderick?" Holt snarled, approaching the captain's chair.

"This is part of their survival training for this year," Roderick said. "I am under orders to destroy the Calm Before the Storm in such a way that all the cadets escape. Admiral Blake decided that our old methods had too much hand holding. With the Expanse and the Sarkosian Confederacy becoming more aggressive they need to know what to do when the ship they are on is disabled. Did you read the briefing? I sent it to you again."

"That is not Matatasia," Solanthas observed. He walked over to the navigation station and looked over the lieutenant's shoulder. "What is really going on, Captain Roderick?" He asked, turning to face the man. "We're orbiting Pantaurus. This is a Preserve world under the jurisdiction of the Preservation Society."

"A preserve world!?" Holt shouted, "We are launching immediately and getting our cadets off that world."

"No, you're not," Roderick said. "Security, please escort Majors Peregrin and Farosh off of the bridge. If they give you any trouble, take them to the brig."

Neither Holt nor Solanthas waited for the security officer to move. They left the bridge, neither of them bothering to conceal their anger.. Messages appeared from both Jericho and Leiella. The former said the computer is locked out from anyone accessing launch commands except for the senior bridge crew. Leiella's message was that she found Talbot and learned what was happening. They made their way to Talbot's station in the lower deck of the ship.

"Pantaurus is a preserve world that is home to some of the most valuable and deadly creatures known in the empire. An eborsisk roams the mountains separating a peninsula from the northern continent of Roaming Plains. That peninsula is home to diceros, razorfur mammoths, rak'gar, bandersnatches, crag wolves, kalashtar, and an abomination known as a brakenskarv. The entire planet is covered in spark grass and there are several orbiting scramblers so nothing can be detected on the surface," Solanthas reported as they walked.

Holt scowled. This entire thing sounded like a setup for something. An illegal hunting operation? Those infantry suits would let the cadets take down almost anything on that world; the eborsisk was the only exception. How many cadets would they lose because Snowden and Blake wanted to make a killing on the black market. They reached Talbot after a few minutes and waited for Nevis and Marley to join them.

"We were ordered to battle stations an hour ago," Talbot said once Paragon Squad had assembled. The prince was human with brown eyes and dark hair. Like most of the royal family he was rather handsome. He was a bridge officer specializing in navigation and communication. "Scanning the Calm revealed weak points in the structure. Destroying one of those points would cause devastating damage to the ship, but they are all in locations the cadets wouldn't have any reason to go. There are also weak points where the cadets would be, like the launch bays, the mess hall, and even the bunkhouses. What's worse is the mechas and several of these star fighters were loaded with explosives that are hard to detect unless you're looking for them. Several of the lifeboats have these explosives as well.

"The drop pods have been re-engineered to be missiles, again with the explosives built in. It came from Augustine Shipyard but on its way to the Academy had to make an emergency stop at Toveskar Shipyards since some of the systems were not responding the way they should. It received an overhaul there, and that's likely when the explosives were planted."

Holt scowled. The ship built for a training expedition was actually a brilliant idea, and he didn't mind that part of it. A ship rigged to be destroyed was another matter altogether. This wasn't the only survival training the cadets received. Second and third years of the academy had much more rigorous ones. This type of scenario should have been reserved for fourth year cadets, if at all.

"What do you think about the new captain and bridge crew, Lieutenant?" Leiella asked.

"They're not Astrian Navy. Roderick is, but the rest of the crew seem to know how to pretend. They can do their jobs well enough, but there's something off about them I can't put my finger on. Wilson thought the same thing and so did Josie. This whole thing reeks, ma'am and I'm worried about the cadets. Especially my sister and niece," Talbot replied.

"I want you to contact Navy Operations and let them know about everything that is going on. We're going to need the corps of engineers to dismantle those scramblers so we can actually search the planet for our cadets. After that…" Holt looked from Leiella to Solanthus and then back to Talbot. "How about you take your ship back. I have an idea."

=+=

Kiera woke up to an intense feeling of cold and pressure around her leg. She tried to sit up but her sore body argued against the action making her relent. She was lying on something impossibly soft and heard the sound of a crackling fire. Her last memory was thinking they wouldn’t be able to get out of the way of the charging diceros, unless she activated Riley’s jetpack. She heard footsteps approach and opened her eyes to see Riley approaching wearing a skin tight black suit that left nothing to the imagination.

“Hey,” Riley said kneeling down, “You’re awake.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?” Kiera asked.

“Astria’s tail. You have a terrible injury, three cracked ribs and are black and blue from head to toe and you’re asking me how I’m doing?” Riley shook her head, “Thanks to your quick thinking I’m alive. That diceros was a bastard, though.”

“What do you mean?” Kiera asked.

“It tried to shake the wolves off by running them into the herd. Which caused the rest of the herd to charge forward because there were things approaching them. The wolves immediately broke away and the stampede stopped. Then that murderous herbivore decided it wasn’t done and started charging at them again, along the path that you were on. I was suspended in the air and flying higher without control so the only thing I could do was shoot. I hit its leg and caused it to trip and slide, burying you under the dirt and grass. I jettisoned my jetpack and used my leg boots to drop and lost power on impact.

“The mammoths got agitated and chased the diceros off, then they left, all but one. I dropped to the ground and ran towards where you were buried, but the crag wolves were already there. They dug you out and one of their own. When they saw their pack member was dead they all left. When I got to I discovered that the wolves weren’t too careful in their digging…” Riley looked away, “They cut your leg off. I used the spongmoss to stop the bleeding. We can add a new use for it in the entry.” She sniffed and then looked back at Kiera. “I could have taken the hit, our armor is designed to handle heavy impact. Why by Astra’s Tail did you…”

“I just reacted. That thing was charging towards us, we were both going to die but I could save your life with the push of a button so I did. There was no more thought to it than that,” Kiera said, giving Riley a slight smile and reaching up to caress her face. She winced in pain and dropped her arm.

Riley could only stare at Kiera; there was a tangle of emotions streaming from her: astonishment, adoration, desire, guilt, self loathing, relief, joy, sadness and a dozen others. Riley was frozen with indecision. Kiera managed to take her hand, “I’m so happy that you’re okay. I lived, that means I get to find out how far down your spots go, right?”

“Yeah, you saved the girl so you get the girl,” Riley said, “If you want her.”

“Lovely, we have got to work on your self-esteem,” Kiera said, “I just told you I want to count your spots, kiss each of them, see if you have more stripes. You saved me, too, remember? Are the wolves still around?”

“Only one,” Riley said, “He’s curled up by your…thigh. There have been a few other people that have shown up. Alyxia from my squad, one of your guys, kind of short and skinny but super strong. Some navy guys, too. I should go get you some water.” She lingered a moment and then left.

Kiera closed her eyes, her entire body was in pain, she couldn’t feel her toes. She knew that Riley told her the wolves severed it and there was moss on it, but she was still trying to wrap her mind around that, what it meant, what it would mean going forward. Was she going to be discharged? Why had they been attacked? How many people survived? Corbin was alive but what about the rest of her squad, Lily, Robyn, Kida, Gargax, Issac, Locke, Tam and Kins? They had no comms, was the Everlight going to wait for the flares and then finish them off? Abandon them?

Riley returned with a small stone bowl and fed Kiera the water. She must have seen the distress Kiera was feeling because when Kiera was done drinking Riley wrapped her arms around her. It was heaven. Keira returned the embrace and her body began to shake, tears flowed down her face, any strength she had to try to stay composed. She was betrayed, in pain, lost on a world and didn’t know where people she loved were. Riley let her cry, kept her arms around her.

“Hey, Dax! Convoy inbound!” a familiar voice called.

“Have Alyxia handle it!” Riley called back.

“You can go,” Kiera murmured, the tears had stopped. Her throat was dry and she was still in a lot of pain. She wanted to sleep but at the same time was afraid to. The pup at her side stirred and she felt him lick her leg.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Riley said, “Alyxia can handle it, she’s a tough, capable woman. Just like the one I have in my arms.”

Kiera closed her eyes, how would her father react to this news? How would the Major, and Captain Feren? This entire scenario didn’t sound like anything they would approve of, let alone devise. There had been a discussion about their survival groups and they had all been assigned survival packs. Throwing them to a planet from orbit didn’t make any sense. There had to be something else going on.

Kiera had almost drifted off to sleep when she heard familiar voices. Wincing she lifted her head and made out a blurry golden light, “Take off the uniform.” The voice was familiar. Cold air brushed over her leg, “Is that moss?”

“Sponge Moss,” Riley said, “It’s all I had to stem the bleeding. Her leg was crushed by a diceros, then she was buried. Crag wolves dug her out and took off her leg in the process. I’m not sure why but I didn’t want to discharge my weapon, so I used the moss.”

“That was brilliant thinking,” the voice said, a hand was placed on Kiera’s thigh and warmth flooded through her, the pain started to lessen, “Those wolves probably saved her life. A cursing like you described can end up fouling the blood. Kiera, can you hear me? I’m Tamalyn.”

“Tam?,” Kiera murmured, “I can hear you.”

“Riley’s going to give you some water, sweetheart, I want you to drink it, okay?”

Kiera nodded, drinking cool water it quenched her thirst but she felt so tired. She wanted to go to sleep, the pain was still there but she could ignore it. There were some more voices but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Someone picked her up and then put her on something softer. A warm body wrapped around her and something was placed over her. Warmth spread through her again.

“It’s okay, sweetie, go to sleep. We’ve got you.”

=+=

“This is a Preserve world,” Koda growled, taking refuge behind a rocky outcropping, “We kill anything here and we’ll be in an Imperial Mine digging for palladium.”

“I think there’s an exception when you’ve been dropped onto it and are trying to survive versus some poacher,” Isaac retorted, risking a glance around the rock to put eyes on the beast that was hunting them.

It was called a kalashtar, a six legged saber toothed cat with two pairs of horns sweeping over its skull and a barbed tail. The cats were dangerously intelligent and their fur took on the appearance of whatever environment they were in as long as they were still or moving at a slow, stalking pace.

“Why is there a cat like this on a Preserve?” Hailey asked, wincing as she breathed. The kalashtar had revealed itself by pouncing on Hailey, its sharp claws shredded through her AFU and left four long gashes on her stomach. Its barbed tail caught Jin in the side of the head, taking his ear and tearing out his right eye. Their wounds were still bleeding. Both would likely have been dead if it wasn’t for Gargax. The moment the cat struck, so did the ork, he tackled the kalashtar off of Hailey giving Isaac, Koda and Vincent Reynolds time to get the two injured cadets to cover.

“Why did they requisition us pulsers?” Vincent growled, “We’re supposed to have beamers! Why the fark did Gibson and Farrow try to kill you three?”

“No idea, they’ve always been assholes, now they’re dead assholes. We can’t do anything about our weapons now, at least we have two more,” Isaac replied. Koda was busy pressing his shirt against Hailey’s stomach to try to stop the bleeding. Jin had his own shirt pressed against his head.

“Prey animals on preserves can overpopulate if there aren’t any predators to keep the numbers in check,” Koda said, “Usually it’s crag wolves, or panthra, even a damn rak’mar would be better than a farking kalashtar!”

“I don’t see Gargax or the cat,” Isaac said, stepping around the outcropping, “Tell me these are solitary hunters.”

“Hey, medscan just alerted me that there are anticoagulants in this wound! What in the void is this monster!” Vince shouted.

“Kalashtar are the apex predators on any world they inhabit. They are solitairy, only coming together to mate and have litters between two to five cubs. They stay with their mother for ten months before they leave on their own to establish territory,” Koda recited, obviously trying to keep himself from panicking, “Usually only one or two cubs survive.”

“Jingko leaf when crushed and mixed with water can seal any wound,” Jin grimaced, “It’s a blue leafed plant that grow in clumps near tanga berry plants, which grow by streams.”

“We don’t have any of that,” Isaac said, “I don’t have eyes on a stream or anything other than a field of rocks and spark grass. Hang on I have eyes on a copse of trees, 1.4 clicks away.”

“If we had some sponge moss and snapbranch bark we could make a poultice with the spark grass that would seal our injuries. It will hurt like the Void, though,” Jin grimaced.

“Better than bleeding out,” Isaac said, “Vince you’re on guard duty. I’m going for the trees. Hope to Astria that we get lucky.”