Foreword: The drac'tarr is a fictional race created and © to me. (Do not use without asking please)

We Fight for Each Other

Kaarn pressed himself close to the ground and covered his head with his arms as he heard the tell tale of and incoming artillery shell. As the shell struck the ground he was hurled through the air, slamming down a few meters away. Pressing himself to the ground while crawling as fast as he could, heading towards the trenches he'd spotted during his aerial trip. Hot pain stabbed through him and told him his broken were ribs, even more as his tail got stuck in a bundle of barbed wire. He heard more shells whistling, ignoring the pain and tearing his tail lose he closed the gap to the trench lip in a heartbeat. Dropping down and slamming into the ground, more pain rushed through his ribs and tail. Then the world turned dark as the artillery barrage threw rocks and soil high into the air. Somewhere among the shells there must have been a megaton-charge, cause suddenly he was thrown against the trench wall and he nearly blacked out from the shockwave. All he could hear was an aerie ringing, but he was sure that the barrage hadn't stopped since the world was still shaking.
Through the falling debris Kaarn could see the outline of a drac'tarr tactical battle armored suit, agonizingly he began to crawl over. Grabbing the shoulder he could tell the suit didn't have an occupant, this one had fallen and the body had dispersed. His ears were still ringing but the artillery had stopped, at least for the moment. The drac'tarr used this moment to bandage his tail some and replaced his lost tail amour with that of the empty suit. Luckily it was his size and the little difference there were the suit adjusted so that it fit like a second skin.
Movement caught his eye and he hugged the wall, aiming his S24 down the trench. "Anyone there?" A voice in his head called out and he lowered his rifle. "Yes" Kaarn thought back. Someone took a quick glance around a bend in the trench and then stepped out so Kaarn could se her. She was a member of the water clan; both her height and color reviled that. Somewhere she'd lost her helmet and S24 and was only carrying her Lordac. The emblem on her shoulder pad told Kaarn that she belonged to the engineering squad attached to his unit.
"I thought I was the only one left." Her gentle voice spoke in his head as she used the soul link between all drac'tarr. Kaarn sat down, leaning against the wall, each breath made his lungs feel like they were on fire and he was sweating even as the suit worked to cool him down.
"Close I could have been the last." She came and sat down next to him, the artillery had started again. "You should be more careful, I nearly blew your head off."
She looked up at him, she was so small in comparison since he was from the fire clan and stood nearly 4 meters tall, while she were just a fourth of his height. "I'm glad you didn't." She thought with a smile. "I'm Lorna by the way."
"Kaarn." He said and rested his head against the wall.
For the longest of moments they just sat there in silence, feeling the ground shake as the area around the trenches were pounded by artillery fire. After a while she leaned against him a fell asleep, happy to have found another of her kind. Kaarn gently rested his hand on her shoulder, thinking about the situation. The probability that anyone else were alive was slim but possible. When they made planet fall nearly a month ago there had been fourthly of them plus and squad of engineers, all in all fifty. Somewhere along the line there must have been a mishap, since the Invaders weren't supposed to have artillery here. And things weren't looking better when their drop ship was shot down by enemy fighters. Kaarn was tempted to activate his distress beacon and wait for pickup. But that would only give the enemy a signal to pinpoint, and he weren’t going to give them the satisfaction of dropping an artillery shell on his head.
He looked up towards the sky it was getting darker, soon it would be pitch black and the only light would be the artillery fire. Gently he nudged Lorna to wake her. "Hey, wake up." He thought to her and she stirred. "Time to get moving."
"Okay." She thought with a yawn. They carefully made their way through the trenches back to the bunker. From the outside you could only open the massive reinforced door by activating two DNA locks at the same time, and now that they were two it was no problem. But before they went in, Lorna rigged a few incineration-mines further down the trench. Hopefully that would discourage anyone that came this way, but the enemy seemed content wit pounding with their artillery.
The inside of the bunker was cramped and dark, with four beds dug out of the earthen wall, a wooden table that housed communication and tracking equipment. And on the floor in the back was a large armored box containing weapon, medical supplies, and emergency rations. The door's hydraulics let out a tortured groan as they worked to close the heavy door, and the locks slammed shut. First then Kaarn let out a sigh or release, then he whished that he hadn't. The pain radiating from his ribs caused his to wince, which in turned caused them to hurt even more.
He felt a light tapping on his leg and looked down. Lorna was speaking to him, but he could only see her mouth moving not hear her. "I can't hear you, I was almost hit by an artillery shell and I can't hear a thing." He thought to her.
"I see, can't you hear anything at all?" She thought, looking concerned.
"Nope, only this annoying ringing tone." Kaarn sat down and leaned against the wall, looking up at Lorna he thought. "Are you injured?"
She shook her head. "But you seem to be, what's wrong?"
"I think I broke a rib or two, nothing serious."
The blue drac'tarr chuckled and said. "Males and your damn pride." Then she went over to the supply crate in the back and withdrew an injector and a small case of glass canisters. "Ok, hotshot. Strip."
"Excuse me?" Kaarn looked at the little thing asking him to remove his armor and survival suit.
"You heard me, get out the armor so I can apply this stuff." She withdrew a canister with containing a pink liquid from the case and loaded it into injector.
Kaarn gave up and painfully started removing the armor plating of his battle armor until he only wore the survival suit beneath, then he pealed off its upper half. The black, skintight material parting to reveal his blazing red scales and well trained body beneath.
"Ok, this might hurt a little." Lorna's voice echoed in his head.
"Just get it over with, will you."
Lorna smiled and carefully began trailing her fingers up Kaarn's ribs, putting but a fraction of pressure behind her finger. As her fingers passed over the third and fourth ribs, Kaarn winced and sucked in a sharp breath, which caused him even more pain. The smaller drac'tarr gently pressed the injector against the two broken ribs and pulled the trigger. With a hiss the pink contents drained and was pushed through Kaarn's skin with high pressure. The aching of his ribs slowly disappeared as the liquid sought out the fracture and hardened in place, becoming as hard as the bone around it. Some of it escaped into his blood stream and would work as an analgesic.
With the pain gone, Kaarn's muscles relaxed and he felt tired. Yawning as he pealed the survival suit back on. "I'm gonna' take a nap, wake me up if anything happens."
"Sure thing big guy, I'm going to tinker with the radio. Se if I can get a hold of someone." Lorna headed towards the sturdy table and Kaarn crawled into one of the beds, sound asleep when his head hit the pillow.

"Hey sleepy head!" Someone was shaking him. "Wake up you!"
Kaarn pried his eyes open to see Lorna trying to rouse him from his sleep. "What is it now?" He realized that he could hear his own voice. "Hey, I can hear again."
"That's great, but would you get up. There's trouble brewing." Lorna was starting to sound irritated now.
"Fine, fine." The large drac'tarr rolled out of the bed and sat up, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees. "Ok, what's going on?"
"While I fiddling with the radio, I suddenly picked up a Invader transmission." Lorna pulled out a holographic map and placed it on the floor between them, displaying a 3D view of the battlefield. "Apparently they've got some kind of really big fucking cannon set up… here." She pointed to a high plateau a few hundred meters behind the enemy lines. "And they're planning on sending a megaton shell straight into the main camp."
"What? But the main camp is over five hundred kilometers away, can they really fire it at a target so far away with a ground based weapon?" Kaarn could only imagine the destruction that would create if the shell struck a direct hit.
"Unfortunately they can, they are using a guided shell and a small surveillance pod to pinpoint their target. No wonder they were so eager to get rid of us, they were probably planning on this back when we showed up."
Kaarn sighed, the situation looked grim. "Any idea of when they're going to use it?"
"No, but I bet it will be soon." Lorna scratched the back of her head. "And we can't call anyone to warn them, this sucks."
The red drac'tarr leaned back against the wall, keeping his eyes on the plateau. An idea was forming in his head, a crazy and suicidal idea, but it could work. Silently he began taking on his armor. He noticed that the left chest plate was cracked on the inside; if it were to take a hit it wouldn't offer much protection. "What are you doing?" Lorna asked.
"I'm going to stop that cannon from firing." Kaarn said.
"Are you insane! That thing is on the other side of the enemy line, you'll get killed!" The blue drac'tarr exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"Better that than just sitting here and doing nothing." Opening the lid of the supply box, Kaarn saw something wrapped in a dark fabric at the bottom. Moving a few boxes of ammunition aside he picked it up and unwrapped it. Wrapped in the cloth was a polished metal case with the insignia of the Veteran Brigade on the lid. Kaarn knew whom this belonged to, the officer in charge of this unit, Zeth. Kaarn had Zeth had fought alongside each other for nearly three hundred years, becoming great friends in the process, and now Zeth was dead. He lost his life while buying time for his soldiers to escape an Invader Death Droid, that thing had thorn him apart. And hearing his friend's tortured screams, Kaarn had turned and fired an explosive shell into he droid's mouth, blowing its head off. But it was too late for Zeth, his body had already dispersed and his soul had gone to join the Ancient. Kaarn opened the lid and withdrew two gauss pistols; there was also a holster and a few clips of ammo.
"I must be insane too." Lorna said to herself. "Ok what do we have to work with, any demolition charges left?
Kaarn looked down upon her, surprised. "I think it's best you stay here, it could be dangerous."
"Don't give me that crap, I'm a soldier too. I've undergone the same training you have, so just shut up." She withdrew a S24 from the box along with an ammo belt.
And as she loaded it, Kaarn could se that there was no use arguing with her. "Fine, I think there's some charges left." While she rumbling though the box's contents, he inspected the map one more time looking for the easiest way to the plateau. According to the map there were two quick and relatively safe paths they could take, one would for them to swim up the river and pass right under the enemy's noses or they could trek through a small patch of forest and hope that it wasn't full of mines and spike pits. Then he thought back to what happened the last time they went close to the river, some huge amphibious predator had suddenly thrown itself out of the water and dragged three of his comrades down. With that in mind the forest would be the best approach. They took all the equipment they thought they would need, gobbled down some emergency rations and then disappeared into the night.

Lorna pushed a branch out of the way as she slowly crept through the thick forest, she was having a harder time than Kaarn since he could step over fallen trees and bushes. While she had to climb over or go around them, sometimes she whished she was taller. But if an enemy patrol came walking by they would have a harder time seeing her, even if the camouflage of their battle suits made them difficult to detect to the naked eye, Kaarn would still be spotted before him. She was actually a bit worried; there had been alarmingly few mines. Meaning that the enemy used the forest for something, or was at least patrolling it.
The bushes ahead rustled and the two froze in place, silently drawing their weapons. As the bushes parted they held their breath, for coming fourth was an Invader Death Droid, a monstrous creation that used flesh to fuel itself. Armed with long spidery arms with long claws at the end and with long mechanical tentacles sprouting from its back. It's oversized maw was filled with slender razor-sharp teeth, and behind those teeth, in the back of its mouth Kaarn knew there was a mass of spinning blades that would rend and grind its food to a more digestible mass of mashed flesh, blood and bone.
Both of the drac'tarr stood absolutely still, not even daring to breathe, silently praying that this thing relied on optical sensors. Suddenly one of its tentacles shot towards Kaarn, but missed him with just a few centimeters and slammed into the tree behind him. Then just as fast, it withdrew, wrapped around a large insect that the machine stuffed into its maw. The nightmarish buzzing of its blades started and the two could see the greenish goo that once was the insect trickle down the transparent throat. Having consumed the bug, the Death Droid left. Moving past them and disappearing into the bushes behind them. But it took nearly a full minute before any of the drac'tarr dared to breath.
"I hope there won't be anymore of those." Lorna thought to Kaarn. "I don't want to end up in those jaws."
"Me neither, lets keep moving." Kaarn thought back and the two started moving again, now even more careful than before.

It was almost morning when they reached the base of the plateau. And the closer they had gotten, the more Invader forces they had encountered. Luckily they had been able to avoid confrontation, for if their presence was revealed then the entire area would be swarming with enemies and they would never be able to finish their job. But they didn't have time to start worrying about that now and started climbing, quickly scaling the hillside. They carefully peered over the top, the plateau was swarming with Invader troops and in the middle of them all was an artillery cannon of titanic proportions.
Kaarn dug his feet into the earth and drew Zeth's gauss pistols. He looked at Lorna. "Ready to crash the party?"
"Sure." She smiled and readied her Lordac.
Both of them jumped up at the same time, firing their guns as they did. Kaarn just held the triggers down and worked the pistols left and right, cutting down enemies with swarms of needle sized projectiles. While Lorna used concentrated burst to take out those he didn't get. Once everyone was dead they rushed towards the cannon, Lorna pulling out demolition charges out of her belt. As soon as they came close enough to take cover behind a pile of crates, Kaarn turned and stood guard if anyone would come up the only path to the top. Lorna being an engineer was trained how to properly plant demolitions, so she continued the few steeps to the cannon. Every nerve in Kaarn's body was tensed now, at this point everything could go wrong. The cannon could fire on automation; troops could come rushing up the slope, or even worse.
Suddenly the ground shook nearly causing Kaarn to lose his balance, and then he heard Lorna scream. Swirling around his heart skipped a beat, for towering over Lorna was a Death Droid. It's tentacles lashing out to snag her from where she'd fallen. Once it gripped her it began lifting her towards its massive mouth. Kaarn rushed towards it, firing his pistols at its midsection, but to no effect. Seeing that he slammed his bulk into it, hoping for it to release its grip Lorna. But that didn't happen and the monster slashed at him with its clawed hand. He tried to dodge, but it was too fast and struck him in his left side. The cracked plate there shattered and his ribs broke again and sent him skidding along the ground. He'd never felt pain like this before, it was mind blowing and he was close to blacking out from it, but the buzz of the grinder blades bulled him back to reality. Snapping back he could se that Lorna was halfway in that monster's mouth and tears streaked down her cheeks as her eyes locked with his. For a moment a strange serenity laid over him, the world slowed down and the frenetic buzzing faded to a low humming. Then it all came slamming back to him, bringing with a burning rage. His lips curled back and his eyes narrowed and he sprang to his feet, charging the droid, gripping and activating his sword as he did.
Lorna had only heard about he berserker rage of the fire clan never actually seen it, but now that she had. She wasn't sure who to be more afraid of, her killer or her friend as he came roaring towards them, sword drawn, frothing at he mouth. But her consideration was short lived as the blades snagged on her tail and began pulling her in. Her scream echoed over the battlefield as her tail was ripped to shreds, and grew even higher as her legs also was caught in the blades. Then her world was turned upside down, she could feel herself falling and landing hard on the ground. The last thing she remembered before passing out was a roar of pain.

"Hey, are you awake?" Lorna heard someone ask, but it sounded distant and distorted. She realized that it was Kaarn's voice calling out for her.
"Uhnn…" She groaned. "What happened? Am I dead?" Her own voice sounded unnatural, as if she wasn't the one talking
"No you're not dead, but close, really close." Now she could just make out the outline of a figure, she tried to focus but her eyes refused. "I don't remember much, but from what I've been able to piece together. I somehow destroyed the droid and blew up the cannon just before the cavalry arrived."
Lorna's eyes had begun to focus and now she could see that it was Kaarn. He was wearing a pair of hospital-green, lose fitting pants. His chest was wrapped in bandages, but what drew her attention the most was his arm. It too was wrapped, but he bandage was bloody and it seemed his arm ended just below his elbow.
"What happened to you arm?" She asked, slurring.
Kaarn smiled embarrassingly and scratched the back of his head. "I'm not really sure." He said. "I think a showed a demolition charge down that things throat and showed a bit too deep."
Lorna looked worryingly on him. "Hey, don't worry. I'll be fine." He reassured her. "And so will you says the doctors, we just have to spend a few days in a regeneration tank."
"We?" She asked.
"Yeah." He looked a bit hesitating. "Before I could get you away from the droid, it had already chewed up your tail and legs. I can't pronounce it, but the drug they're pumping into you to keep the pain down have a really long and complicated name, and it begins with a Z."
She couldn't help but smile.
"Oh and another good news." The big red drac'tarr smiled. "The planet we just left, the war there is over, and the Invaders were driven back... for now. The officer in charge of the unit that picked us up said that we might also get a medal for courage, because we faced such odds when blowing up the cannon."
"I think you should let her rest now, she's had a rough time." A kind and gentle voice said. Tilting her head up a little, Lorna could se a spirit clan drac'tarr wearing a lab coat and holding a clipboard close to her chest.
"Yeah that might be a good idea, doc." Kaarn said and turned back to Lorna. "She looks beat."
He turned to leave only to have Lorna grabbing his tail. "Hey hotshot, you'll be back later, right?" She was smiling as she weakly held his tail.
"You bet on it, as soon as they'll let me." He took her small hand and placed it on her chest. "Sleep well."
As he left she doused back to sleep and the doctor turned off the lights and closed the doors, leaving the room in darkness.

The End (for now)