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TheeLei lay flat against the ground. Her wings were spread slightly, her sky-blue scales catching the silvery glow of the two moons high in the sky. Her breaths were deep and focused, the fire sacks in her neck expanding and deflating with each breath. Her heart thudded through her chest, and the tip of her tail twitched with every anxious moment.

In her talons she clutched a small black device. It had a red light blinking at the front, and spouted a static noise that reminded her of the sound of falling water. Carefully, her sharp talons feeling incredibly unwieldy at this moment, she turned on of the dials at the top of the Iveluvss, or 'radio' as the Yovess called them. The static noise winced and shifted but didn't fade. Her tail flicked again, annoyed.

The sound of scales sliding against stone caused her to look up. A red Raess sidled up next to her. Larger than her, with sharp horns and the spikes on his back silhouetted against the moonlight. His head was looking out over their quarry, not far away now. The rocky stone ground they were currently laying upon fell away into a long drop, a ravine that cut the land in two. They were near where the ravine ended, and where there attack would begin.

"TheeLei," the red Raess muttered, "Are you able to get anything?"

"Nothing yet," she replied, "It can be... difficult."

A sigh caused the massive red form to shudder as he looked back over his shoulder at the remaining party. A dozen red and blue faces looked back, hiding the best they could amongst the brown of the boulders. TheeLei felt her nervousness spike at the knowledge that they were all waiting for her. She was the only one that could give the go ahead.

"Relax yourself, TheeLei, focus. You are the only one that can do this."

"Yes, GaavTo, I know," she didn't feel like snapping at him that his pressuring wasn't helping.

She lowered her head, glaring at the device in her talons, as she slowly moved the dial at the top. Suddenly, through the static, a voice blared out. The blue dragon flinched at the noise, before a smile pulled over her snout as the disrupted voice began to speak. GaavTo, seeing her excitement, lowered his head to listen to the radio as well.

"What are they saying?"

"Give me a moment," she rumbled, as she listened.

The language of the Yovess was difficult to understand at the best of times. After two years of studying the language, TheeLei didn't feel she understood it nearly enough. The limited resources didn't help. But while she couldn't exactly say she was fluid in the language, she understood enough to be able to get the general meaning of whatever was going through. It didn't help that the language felt so sharp to say, and unrhythmic to listen to.

"They... are talking about... its nearly time to change shifts..." the young Raess began to translate, "Switch weapons... I think. They have yet to see anything out of the ordinary. One is... looking forward to eat. A quite night."

She looked at the scaled figure beside her as he listened slowly.

"The change of shifts. Hmm," GaavTo went silent for several moments, "Keep listening TheeLei. Let me know if anything changes."

The red Raess turned back to the small attack party, "Alright, they are about to change shifts now. If nothing changes, we wait another hour. Then we attack. For now, we are to get into position. Be careful, don't be spotted, and no flying until the last moment."

There was a grunt of acknowledgement, quickly followed by the scuffing of talons and scales against rock as the group began to move.

"TheeLei," GaavTo turned his head back to the blue dragon, who was still listening intently to the radio, "You are the backup, okay. Support. Only come in if we need it."

TheeLei huffed, "I can fight just fine."

"I am aware of your skill young one. But this is also your first combat experience, and your father would kill me if anything happened to you."

The blue Raess rumbled in annoyance, though she couldn't help but replay the final 'be careful' her father had spoken to her before they had left. She had promised him she would. As any good daughter would.

"Backup," she responded.

He nodded. Slowly they began to move, carefully slinking over to where the ground fell away. It was a long drop, but it was wide enough there shouldn't be too much difficulty flying down and into it. As the two looked down over the cliff they could see the Yovess homestead, made from the materials pulled from the very flesh of the planet. The Yovess has changed their skins to a darker colour, making it difficult to spot them against the dull grey of their metallic wall. But the white lights that shone out of there many devices made them stand out.

Time continued to slowly pass by. TheeLei kept the radio close by as she listened carefully to their ever word. It was strange to listen to the conversations that were able to be picked up. Mainly just reports every couple of minutes about nothing being out of the ordinary. Sometimes there was talk of home, or money, or the Raess, or 'dragons', as these foreign creatures referred to them.

"Be prepared," said GaavTo.

The male took a deep breath. TheeLei looked up at him as a glow began to run up the back of his neck, and his fire sacks inflated. All around the top half of the ravine, more dull orange glows began to appear. TheeLei huddled close to the ground, watching with giddy excitement. It was about to begin. Her first fight, her first battle, and her first victory. Her sharp teeth flashed in a smile as she looked up at red male beside her.

"Remember, watch first. This should be quick," GaavTo grinned back.

TheeLei nodded her head, even as she spread her wings slightly and shuffled her hind legs in anticipation, "But if you need my help..."

"Then feel free to unleash your fire on your foes," the great red dragon said savagely.

He slowly got to his feet, stalking toward the edge of the ravine. The other glowing Raess followed his lead. GaavTo, his wings folded close to his back, dropped off the edge. Again, the others followed. TheeLei watched, only able to really pick out the glowing fire sacks standing out against the cliff face, the light of the moon and the brown of the rock camouflaging the blues and reds of her tribe. Her heart began to beat faster as she watched and waited.

"Wait... what is..." the radio in her talons cut off with a scream as the first bursts of flame were unleashed. Long neon blue lights followed quickly as the Yovess tried to fire back against the attackers. For several long seconds the movements within the ravine were quick and practiced. As one of the Yovess went to fire their weapon, a Raess was quick to intercept them, dropping from the darkness and either crushing them into the metal wall with talons and tail, or bathing them in the orange glow of devastating fire.

The white lights that had been carried around were dropped, some even flickering off as it was crushed in the skirmish. TheeLei watched with a grin from the clifftop, her tail twitching eagerly behind her as she allowed the soft glow of her own fire to build across the top of her neck. The heat prickled the back of her throat, but she had to force herself to wait. She had done her job.

"Dragon attack!" a voice came through her radio, "Several men down. Sound the alarm! Mobilize defence protocol."

TheeLei tilted her head at the radio. Mobilize? Defence Protocol? She knew what an alarm was, but the rest were foreign to her. Even still, she didn't like the way the Yovess on the other side of the radio sounded. She got up and went to let out a warning cry to her kin below. But her roar was drowned out as a loud blurring sound shuddered through the ground.

"Non-lethal rounds if we can help it," the voice continued, "We want as many as we can alive."

TheeLei growled at those words, turning her head as the ground began to shudder. Her eyes widened in shock as the cliff face seemed to move, opening up to reveal more of the darkly clad Yovess moving within now visible tunnels within the cliff face. Dozens of them. This time TheeLei allowed herself a full throat roar of warning to the Raess below. She saw several of their heads turn at her warning.

Another cry came from whom she assumed was GaavTo, and immediately the Raess leapt into the air with hurried beats of their wings. But they were far too slow. As the long slits in the cliff face fully opened, blue lights rained down from above, from both sides of the ravine. Several Raess were taken out of the air in the first wave, falling unmoving to the ground.

The blue dragon at the top of the cliff growled in anger. Surely this constituted as an emergency. With a snarl she leapt from her perch on the cliff, stretching her wings wide. The fiery glow in the back of her neck intensified as she looped back toward the cliff face, coming into view of the now visible tunnel that had been hidden in the side of the ravine. Half a dozen of the Yovess seemed to have taken purchase there, their gazes and weapons focused down on the Raess below.

TheeLei clenched the muscles in her neck, and opened her maw, basking the side of the cliff in flames. There were cries of surprise from her foe as three were immediately caught alight. The dragon landed where the open tunnel was, using her forelegs to help grip, and bit down on one of the other Yovess, yanking her head backward and throwing it out into the open air. The Yovess screamed as it fell.

TheeLei quickly clawed at the cliff face, thrusting herself upward. A tingle ran through her, causing her entire body to suddenly go numb. Her wings faulted, but she thrust her wings down again, her body feeling incredibly sluggish after the shot. Still, she was able to make it back to the air as feeling began to return to her body.

Her heart was thudding rapidly in her chest as she allowed herself a snark grin. The glow once again began to flood through the back of her neck as she pulled herself into another dive, this time aiming for the opposite side of the cliff face. They seemed a little more prepared for her this time however, as almost immediately several weapons were turned in her direction, firing up at her.

A growl escaped the Raess as she was forced to pull away, dodging several of the blue bolts, but unable to get out of them all. Again, her body went numb as she fell several metres in the air. Thankfully she was able to back over the cliff face where they could no longer shoot her. She came to a hard landing, groaning as her body buzzed. But as before, feeling slowly began to come back to her. If these were the weapons that weren't supposed to kill, what were the ones that were.

Snarling she picked herself up from the ground, shaking the numbness out. The orange glow originating from her neck cast shadow over the ground as she once again forced herself into the air. None of her kin had managed to get back into the air yet. She had to help them.

Flapping her wings hard she rose higher and higher into the air, the two moons silhouetting her form as she stopped and hovered high above the ravine. She could barely see her kin but could still see their flames and the blue lights. They seemed to have taken cover around the metal walls. With a snarl the Raess pulled herself forward and went nose down into a dive. Her tail went streamline, and the fin that ran down her back waved rapidly in the wind. The glow on the back of her neck grew brighter and brighter, and she could feel the slight burning sensation of a flame held too long beginning to run down the back of her neck.

She accelerate, then, as she hit the lip of the ravine she flared her wings and exhaled her flame. The glimmer of her blue scales grew dark as a long gout of fire washed over the left side of the ravine with her dive. She heard cries of surprise, as she knew that her fire was likely gone too fast to do any real damage. But that wasn't her aim. Still able to hold a little of the fire in her fire sack she used her momentum to pull into a quick ascent, dousing the other side of the ravine in flame.

She heart GaavTo crying out from below for those that could move to do so. The few of her kin that weren't unconscious from the blue lights quickly darted from their hiding spots and shot into the air as fast as they could. TheeLei took several breaths, forcing more fire to build up in the back of her neck as she readied her next gout of fire. But as she did her body once again went numb. A gasp left her as this time her wings seemed to almost seize with the blast. Her ascent came to a halt, and as she tried to force her wings open, suddenly another blast of numbness thundered through her.

All she could do was whimper as she fell from the sky, her body seized beyond her control. The ground rushed to meet her, and with a gasping drive to survive she managed to flip herself, slowing her fall as much as she could as her wings blasted open. Still, she crashed against the hard ground, grunting out as the fire from her build up escaped her mouth. After laying for several moments, her body now beginning to get some feeling back, she began to shuffle, trying to get back to her feet. But the moment she moved, her fate was sealed, and several blue lights shot into the Raess back. This time, as her body seized and feeling left her wings and tail, she found herself unable to keep the light from fading as well.