14 Chapter 14: United But Seperate

Onyx, Tykal, Embry, and Azura were the only ones left aboard the vessel. Azura had to make an emergency landing given that the zabrak could still be close. Onyx and his team exited the vessel as soon as Azura landed and scouted the immediate surroundings. They kept their eyes on the sky fearing the zabrak would return to pick them off.

"I can't see it." Said Tykal as she set her rifle's sights towards the skies.

"Keep an eye out. Embry on me we need to find Tigris and Lyo." Onyx and Embry walked to the cliff's edge and looked down to see if they could spot their missing comrades.

Embry and Onyx pulled out their spyglasses and scanned the cliffs and slopes for any sign of them.

"Any luck?" Asked Embry.

Onyx shook his head. "Not a damn thing. Keep looking they must be around here somewhere."

Azura walked towards Onyx and Embry who were both scanning the surrounding slopes and cliffs. She put her hand on Onyx's shoulder. "We have to keep moving."

"But…" Onyx was about to protest.

"Even if they are still alive we have to focus on our current situation at hand. We have to figure out a way to kill the zabrak otherwise the same thing that happened to the other teams will happen to us."

"Yes ma'am."

"Chin up Onyx after this we'll find them." Azura tried her best to reassure the young legionnaire.

Meanwhile, Lyo emerged from the water dragging Tigris along with her. She fell to her knees on the mud from exhaustion after she laid Tigris down. She looked up towards the sky to find any traces of her comrades and of the zabrak, but found none. She checked on Tigris' condition to see if she was still alive. She placed her fingers on her neck to find a pulse, but she seemed unresponsive.

"Wake up!"

"I don't want to." Moaned Tigris.

"C'mon we have to find the others."

Tigris let out a sigh. "Ugh fine. Do you have your…" Tigris saw that the only thing Lyo had on her was her knife. "Well you're fucked."

Lyo rolled her eyes. "We have to find a way to scale the mountain and make our way up."

Tigris turned her head to see the fall they just survived. "Yeah good luck with that. I'm gonna go in that direction and NOT try to get eaten."

"Are you deserting?" Asked Lyo.

"No but…" Suddenly a loud roar echoed in the distance. "You and I can't take that fucking thing head on."

"We have to at least get back to the others."

"Ugh listen Lyo we have no weapons aside from my gauntlets and knives. We're gonna have to stick it out until tomorrow."

"But…"

"Don't make me pull rank… Corporal."

"Yes sergeant…" Muttered Lyo.

Tigris smiled. "Good now first thing we have to do is dry ourselves up, make a fire, find food, and hope that they haven't abandoned us. We should probably find a clearing and make some type of smoke signal."

"…" Lyo remained silent.

"What?"

"I've just never seen you take charge like this before it's kind of scary."

"You should see me in the bedroom." Tigris grinned.

Lyo grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at her face.

Tykal examined the rifles they had on hand. They had a few Sybaris rifles, standard automatic crossbows, a few harpoon guns, and a Hotchkiss cannon. The harpoon guns and cannon would perhaps be the only things capable of penetrating its armor and do some damage the others would just piss it off. Tykal sighed as she began loading the harpoons into her gun. She heard footsteps coming in behind her.

"How's it looking there Tykal?" Asked Azura.

"Well the only things capable of taking it out are the harpoon guns, maybe. The cannon there might be our only real offensive option. Assuming that we can ground the fucking thing and take it out before it eats us."

"I did bring something from my personal inventory just in case."

"What?"

"A triple barrel shotgun." Answered Azura.

"That's not much."

"It's used to hunt Diamondbacks."

Tykal's eyes went wide. "It has two .600 and one .577 caliber barrels and shoots nitroglycerin express bullets. Holy shit Azura that thing can blow a person up to bits!"

"Yeah let me grab it."

Tykal saw Embry climbing up the ship. "How's the search going? Any luck finding them?"

Embry shook her head. "None they must have fallen down one of the cliffs."

"I guess that means we get new replacements. Good thing too that Divine Sovereign bullshit they were always going on about was really getting on my nerves."

Embry sighed. "Yeah I guess so."

"Is he still looking?" Asked Tykal looking for Onyx.

"Yeah he still is."

"Why are you with him Embry?"

"What are you…"

"Why follow 'Onyx the Optimist'?"

"I love him."

"And yet the two of you are so very different. He would not have let me killed that civilian at Drakon's Nest, but you did."

"What's your point?" Embry did not like this line of questioning.

"You're hiding something aren't you Embry? You never talk about your past or what you did before we met on Tofar. What were you?"

"Combat medic you know this already."

Tykal let out a chuckle. "It is not me you should try to convince, but him. Although I will admit that your combat dressings have improved with time."

"Tykal I found it here you go." Azura joined the two with the shotgun in hand. "Any luck finding them Embry?"

Embry sighed. "No luck best guess is that they fell down somewhere near the water. They're probably still alive."

"Is that Onyx's read on the situation?"

Tykal smirked. "Is it Embry?"

"No it's mine."

"Well in any case we have to figure out how to draw that thing here. I already have a plan that might work."

"Might work?" Asked Tykal.

"We don't have the numbers, but with a little luck maybe we can pull it off." Said Azura.

"A shame the two most faithful people in our unit are missing." Said Tykal.

Tigris pounced on top of the boar as tried run away. Tigris pulled out her knife and stabbed it on its head killing it. Tigris lifted the thing by grabbing one of its legs to feel the weight. It was definitely a good catch. She carried the boar back to where she and Lyo set camp. She saw Lyo sitting by the fire sharpening a wooden stick with her knife.

"I got us some lunch."

Lyo looked at Tigris holding up the dead boar triumphantly. "That's going to take a while to cook."

"Well then it's a good thing we still have some daylight."

Lyo looked at the sky. By her estimates it was probably already four in the afternoon which meant they had at least fourteen more hours of daylight followed by an agonizing eighteen hours of darkness with no proper weapons or reinforcements so to speak. They were all alone with no means to communicate with their friends in a hostile area. If their team didn't find them first something else will.

Tigris prepared the boar for them to eat and waited while it roasted. Tigris looked at Lyo and saw a hint of distress in her eyes. "Relax," she started, "there is nothing to be afraid of."

"You've been here before?"

"Not but I'am familiar with the wildlife around here. Worst things out here are probably the skex or horned hounds."

"Skex? Horned hounds?"

"Skex are giant chickens, but they will try to eat you. They're easy to kill. Horned hounds are dogs with horns only twice as big. Easy to kill."

"No wildabeasts?"

"No wildabeasts… Zabraks on the other hand…" Tigris trailed off.

"I noticed."

"Kill, marry, fuck?"

"I'm not playing kill, marry, fuck with you."

"C'mon I'll tell you mine."

"Is it kill Onyx, marry Embry, and fuck Azura?" Asked Lyo.

"Killjoy. Well we gotta do something to kill time."

"Why do you sleep with women?" Asked Lyo.

"They have a better ass. Plus I love sucking on their tits, and…"

"That's not really true is it though?" Asked Lyo cutting her off.

Tigris let out a chuckle. "No it isn't, but I do like it a lot."

"So then why?"

"I'll never tell."

Lyo let out a chuckle. "Killjoy."

"Why didn't you kill Onyx when he let the girl go? Wasn't that against Sovereignism or some shit?"

"He is my commanding officer."

"That is bullshit and you know it. Tykal would have done it without a second thought, and she's no Sovereignist."

"Then I guess I'll never tell." Lyo smirked.

"Fuck you."

Tykal examined the bullets used for the shotgun. The bullet was thick and heavy as she loaded the bullet onto the shotgun it seemed to add to the weight. It felt heavier than before. She looked at the trap they laid out for the zabrak. Two javelin and two harpoon guns would aim at the creatures flanks in an attempt to ground it and keep it from flying away. The cannon was aimed down the middle and would hopefully make a dent in its armor. Tykal stood by the cannon waiting to fire whilst Onyx, Embry, and Azura stood in the center hoping to bait the zabrak. Azura pulled out her flare gun aimed it at the sky and fired.

Tigris and Lyo saw the flare flying up the night sky as the two were about to get some shuteye.

"They're still out there. What do we do?" Asked Lyo.

"Hmm if only… We start a large fire hopefully that will get their attention."

Tykal looked around but could see no sign of the zabrak. Then a loud howl echoed as Tykal focused her attention in its direction. The howls came closer and closer then a roar as the zabrak neared the cliff. Tykal prepared herself as she grabbed the wick and lit it. Onyx and Embry handled both of the harpoon guns leaving Azura alone in the center. The Zabrak landed on the cliff looking down at Azura slowly opening its mouth. Azura signaled Onyx and Embry to fire the harpoons. The harpoons pierced the zabrak's wings further damaging its ability to fly. Azura retreated clearing the way for Tykal to fire. She fired the cannon and prepared to take aim with the shotgun. The cannonball hit the zabrak's belly knocking the wind out of it. The beast struggled to get a gasp of air as it seemed to be almost nauseous. Tykal aimed her shotgun at its mouth trying to line up a shot. Onyx and Embry both tried to cut the creature's hind legs whilst Azura aimed for its arms. Tykal seemingly unable to line up the shot got closer and closer trying to line up her aim. The zabrak went berserk as Onyx, Embry, and Azura seemed to pierce its skin with their swords hurting its arms and legs. It began to use its tail as a whip to knock them down. Onyx and Azura caught the worst of it as its tail almost knocked them both off the cliff. The zabrak set its sights on Embry chasing her as she tried to avoid its grasp.

"EMBRY LET IT GRAB YOU! TRUST ME!" Yelled Tykal as Embry took a dive.

"TYKAL I SWEAR IF YOU MISS…"

"I NEVER MISS!"

Embry let the zabrak grab her as it stood up on its hind legs and carried her. Tykal dashed to get closer to the zabrak. She slid across the floor lining up the shot to fire at its open mouth. As the zabrak opened it mouth Tykal fired one round into its mouth. The zabrak fell on its back with Emrby hanging onto its hand for dear life. Tykal rushed to the zabrak hoping to finally finish it off. Tykal climbed on top of it and shoved the barrel of the shotgun in its mouth and fired. The back of its head burst open as bits and pieces of its brain spilled out onto the ground.

"I told you." Said Tykal with a smirk.

"I thought you would let it kill me."

"Like I said your combat dressings have been getting better."