Nate was awoken by a booming call from Onyx, followed by a long burst of laser fire. He scrambled out of the tent, grabbing his repeater and pulling on his helmet as he stepped out into the darkness. He stood and ran towards Onyx just as a long stream of bullets hammered into the war machine, sending flakes of armour raining to the ground, and forcing the Construct to his knees. Onyx sprang back to his feet and snapped off a series of shots from his heavy laser pistol, the long bolts of ruby light reflecting off  the metal carapaces of several drones. Nate slid into a crouch and fired into the trees, sending puffs of smoke and steam rising into the night. Damon dove out of tent and joined the battle, lobbing a small grenade high into the air. The grenade exploded into a slowly drifting ball of sputtering white light, illuminating the forest and revealing at least ten drones closing on their position.

Nate snapped off a pair of shots before ducking behind a log, sending one of the drones to the forest floor in a heap. Laser beams filled the air, slapping into the snow around them and sending bursts of steam curling into the air. Onyx stood tall, defiantly weathering the storm of incoming fire, lasers glancing off his armour. Onyx fired a pair of rockets into the treeline sending lethal clouds of shrapnel scything through the drones. Damon crouched behind a thorn bush on the other side of Onyx, sending long streams of laser fire streaming through the forest from his short barreled carbine. Nate ducked as a beam seared the air to the left of his helmet. Keeping his head low, he rested the barrel of the laser repeater on the log firing blindly. He peeked back up over the log just in time to see an insectoid drone leaping towards him. He scrambled backwards but the drone caught him in the chest, knocking him flat and pinning him to the ground. A spiny footed leg dug into his left arm slicing through the toughened fabric of his Exo-Suit. He dropped the laser repeater and struck with his right arm, his alloy fist slamming into the drones steel hide with a high ringing sound. The drones armour dented under the blow and it staggered back slightly. He struck again, striking the drone with all of his enhanced strength, pain sensors flared across his knuckles as armour buckled and broke under his fist. The drone rolled off of him, limping away. Nate scrambled to his feet and picked up the laser repeater, firing a burst through the drone and leaving it dying in the snow.

A crimson beam leapt out of the night, burning through the remaining scraps of his armour, and knocking him off his feet, burning through his exo-suit and flash boiling the flesh underneath. A jet of steam exploded out through the hole in his exo-suit sending a mist of blood and chunks of flesh splattering across the snow. Nate rolled into cover, screaming. Clutching his wounded shoulder, he saw Onyx fold under another stream of bullets, the heavy rounds punching through his armour plating. Onyx fell to one knee and fired another pair of rockets into the forest. Before the rockets detonated, Onyx surged to his feet, flicking the heavy blade out of his forearm and charging the enemy lines. Nate gritted his teeth and leaned up over the log, firing on full auto into the cluster of drones as Onyx charged.

A pair of drones wilted under the torrent of fire. Nate held the trigger in, watching as the ammunition counter on his heads up display spun down to zero. He fumbled to load another power cell into the repeater. Damon sent a trio of precise shots into the treeline downing three drones who were retreating from Nate. Onyx slammed into a bipedal drone standing in the rear line of the drone’s formation, armour buckled under his weight and he slammed his heavy blade up into the drone’s chassis, lifting the machine off its feet and sending a river of sparks pouring out of its chest. Damon sent another trio of shots into a second bipedal drone, melting its left knee to dripping slag. Onyx threw the dead drone off of his blade and into its comrade, bowling the machine over, and emptying his laser pistol into the falling machine. Nate sent another long burst towards the remaining drones, driving them further out of cover while Damon carefully placed shots into each one. As the last drones lay dying, Nate looked down at his left arm. The entire side of his exo-suit was slick with blood and the shoulder was a scorched mass of shredded meat.

He carefully removed the arm of his suit as Damon knelt down next to him, pulling a first aid kit out of his pack. Nate watched as Damon worked, the gash on his arm wasn't terrible. The cut was short but deep, Damon bandaged the cut and started working in the laser burn. The laser wound would be impossible to deal with properly without decent medical supplies and there was a serious risk of infection.

Onyx limped over to the other two men. His armour was scarred and burned all over, with lines of bullet holes winding across his chest. Smoke curled up from a blackened stump of antenna and his left arm hung limp. Onyx sat down heavily with a grinding of gears and started inspecting his dangling arm.

“I sincerely hope that's the last of those drones. I don't believe I have any more fight left in me” said Onyx.

Nate winced as Damon packed his shoulder full of a stinging white paste. “God damn! What are you putting in there napalm?” said Nate.

“Oh suck it up,” said Damon. “It's just a little disinfectant that'll help things clot and serve as a base for the bio-patch.” Damon finished packing in the disinfectant and opened a small box filled with a green paste.

“What the hell is bio-patch?”

Damon raised an eyebrow. “You don't have that in the Alliance? It's just a little vat grown goo that grows into wounds and helps them heal.”

“I don't know how much I like the idea things growing into wounds.”

Damon sighed. “Listen, you can either take the goop or you can get an infection and die.”

“Give me the fucking goo then.” said Nate with a frown. “We should pack up and move in case there's more drones looking for us.”

“Man, I get what you're saying but are you sure you don't want a break at all?”

“I'd like to go home to tell the truth, I want to make it to the rover as soon as possible.”

Onyx nodded. “I agree, we are low on supplies and our chances of surviving are decreasing. Presuming these drones are from the same orbital pod as ones that engaged us earlier, perhaps their tracks will lead us to the rover.”

“Or it could lead us directly into more drones.” said Damon.

“I think that's the best plan we have though. Let's take what we can carry and get going.”

It started to snow as the men packed up the camp. They moved slowly through the forest, carefully following the drones tracks. The tracks were fading fast in the falling snow, but the drones had moved in a straight line so far. Nate hoped that the trail stayed straight so they would be able to follow it even after the tracks were buried. The heater in his suit finally died, leaving him shivering as they walked.

“Guys, can we stop for a minute?” said Nate, panting. It had been several hours since their battle and the cold was getting to him. Onyx dropped heavily to the ground, and started knocking ice and debris out of the cracks in his armour.

“I would appreciate a break as well.” said Onyx. “I have several internal structures that are filling with ice and snow.”

Nate put a hand on Onyx's shoulder. “Hopefully not much further. We'll get you to some tools and fresh parts soon.”

Onyx shuddered, a thin trail of smoke rising from his chest. He reached up and slid open an armoured plate at the back of his head, pulling a small storage drive out of his skull. “Nathan,” he said, his voice weak. “Give this to Rowan, he’ll know what to do with it.”

Nate shook his head. “You can give it to him yourself, come on, get up, we need to keep going.”

Onyx laughed quietly. “I am sorry Nathan, there is no fight left in me. I’m finished.”

“No, you can’t be! We have to be close, we can fix you, okay, I promise.”

“Please, Nathan. There is nothing to be done, it is my time. I am glad to meet my end here, with friends.”

The war machine patted Nate on the shoulder one last time and laid back in the snow, dying peacefully.

“Onyx?!” Nate shouted. “Come one get up, please get up.” 

Damon hauled Nate away from the dead construct. “We need to keep moving,” he said solemnly.

“We can’t just leave him here!” shouted Nate.

“We have to,” said Damon, “He’s too heavy to move.”

Nate stood quietly for a long moment before nodding and plodding off deeper into the woods. The forest thinned gradually as they moved and eventually faded altogether opening up into a wide field. The snow had stopped and the clouds cleared, he squinted looking for any sign of the rover. He smiled as he found it, still stuck in the mud, orange sunlight gleaming off the windshield.

Nate scrambled into the cab and turned they key, the engine growled happily to life. He booted up the small computer and activated the rovers radio, picking up a small plastic mic out of a slot set into the dashboard.

“Hello,” he said, morosely. “Nate and Damon here, if anyone is receiving, track this signal. We’re stuck in the rover.” He recorded the message and set it to broadcast once every twenty minutes. He left the radio on, listening to soft static of dead air and drifted off to sleep as Damon climbed into the passenger seat next to him.

He was startled awake when the radio spat out a sharp crack of static. “Nate?” said a tinny voice, distorted by the small speaker.

“Izzy?” said Nate, rubbing a crick out of his neck. He realized he had fallen asleep with his helmet on and pulled it off and tossed it into the dash. “Sweet Jesus it's good to hear from you”

“What the hell happened, Nate? Where have you been?”

“It's a long story, Iz, we got chased off by some drones. We're not doing too hot here, the rover is stuck and none of us are in any shape to get it out. Onyx didn’t make it.”

The radio was silent for a long moment. “Stay safe out there Nate, we're coming. I promise.”

***

Nate woke up to someone gently shaking him by the shoulder. He pried his eyes open, seeing Izzy leaning over him, looking down on him with concern. She pulled him gently to his feet and led him down out of the rover and into the gunship where she laid him down on one of the cots. He drifted in and out of consciousness as the gunship rocked gently. Strange dreams flickered through his mind as he slept. He saw machines striding across ashen fields on long multi jointed legs. He was alone in the wasteland, clutching at a broken arm, watching the machines come. Gritting his teeth, he stood and hefted a huge weapon onto his shoulder. He fired, screaming in defiance as the machines filled the air with laser fire. He fell, gasping his last breath in the dirt as his body was torn to shreds. He awoke with a start, his cot had been pushed up against the wall and secured with magnetic clamps. He was strapped to the bed and slowly being crushed by a huge weight pressing down on his chest. He drifted to sleep again. Someone was dragging him through the dirt, pulling him over shards of blackened bone and down into a tunnel. He was lifted onto an examination table and a set of mechanical arms folded down from the ceiling and began probing at him, sliding cold steel appendages into his wounds. When he next opened his eyes he was floating in a glass cylinder filled with a thick clear gel.

“Can you hear us?” said a soft female voice.

“I hear you, what happened?” said Nate.

“This world is lost. The Avenging Flame completed its strike mission against planet Eraidus but it was shot down, all hands lost. We’re engaging the Omega Protocol, someday the Elders of the Empire will awaken us.”

Nate frowned. “That could take decades.”

“Centuries even, but it is our only option.”