Yep, definitely wolves. Six of them, to be exact, teeth bared, the largest beast in the middle. We had seconds until they were on top of us. I looked at Rhendon, who was still waiting for an answer from either me or my brother.

"Actu-"

"Time to die, furries!" As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, my brother had already drawn his blaster and was charging at our attackers. The wolves didn't stutter. A bzat sounded from Zimthose's gun, followed by a flash of blue light. He fired a few more times, but running while firing was making it impossible to hit anything.

"Zimthose, get back here!" I shouted, drawing my blade and moving in to help him. He stopped to look back at me, but turned around and began shooting again. He wasn't hitting anything, but the wolves were now panicked and moving around sporadically, trying to avoid the blue balls of plasma hurtling towards them. I made it to his side just as one of the smaller wolves was attempting to strike him from his left.

I swung my sword around from my right, and the flat of the blade caught the wolf on its chin just as it was opening its mouth to bite. The beast recoiled in pain and howled before bouncing back, and another immediately took its place. I heard a few more blaster shots ring out, followed by an "Ahah! Got one!" from my brother behind me.

 I quickly looked around the area. My brother had tagged one wolf a bit, but it wasn't down for good. A second one was attempting to take his arm off to keep him from shooting anymore, but the cobalt armor was proving a bit difficult for its teeth to get through. The wolf I had just smacked was lingering behind the one that had come to replace it. Where are the last 2?

I suddenly realized there was a knight missing as well, and just as I glanced over my shoulder I saw the last two wolves. They were bearing down on Rhendon, who was pointing his own gun at them.

A bark drew my attention back to the wolf in front of me, and I barely raised my shield in time to keep its claws at bay. I tried to sweep my arm around and strike it with my blade, but the wolf pulled back just before I could make contact with its flesh. I probably cut a few hairs, but before I could make a second swing, I heard the sound of the injured wolf approaching. I took a step towards it, and it cowered back a step, before barking and running off to my right. I tried tracking it, but the sound of another bark brought my attention back. Not this time! I brought my shield up, ready to take the wolf's claws again, but met no resistance. It started running off to my left, and I turned to follow it, my sword arm raised to strike.

Bzat! Just a few inches past my shoulder, a plasma shot flew by me and landed in front of the wolf. I could feel the heat of the plasma as it passed, and quickly recoiled to my right to avoid getting hit. "Are you crazy Zimthose? Are you trying to hit me?!" 

"Oh please, if I wanted to hit you, I wouldn't miss!" My brother was almost blind firing at this point, never taking real aim at any of the wolves running circles around us. A series of cracks rang out, and my brother and I turned to see Rhendon firing on the largest wolf. It was standing in front of the other wolf that had joined it, but it lay unmoving on the ground. It must be their alpha. And what gun is that?

"Hey, one of you! Heads up!" Rhendon called, interrupting my thoughts. He threw something overhead in our direction. It landed some ways away from us, but I could tell immediately it was another calibur sword.

"Zim, grab it! I'll cover you!" I instructed. Without a word, my brother turned and ran towards the blade buried in the ground, with me right behind him. One of the wolves chasing him made a lunge at me, but I swatted it away with my shield. I noticed as it fell away it had a few black scorch marks on its fur. It didn't get up again after it hit the ground.

"Alright, time to get close and personal!" My brother ran up beside me, holding the caliber in two hands. Okay, three left. We got this…

There was a deep bark from behind us, and I turned to see the alpha wolf barreling down on us. "Both of you, move!" Rhendon called out to warn us, but the callout was a bit late. I kicked my brother in the back, sending him to the ground as I fell backwards, bringing my shield up to cover my torso. The massive beast ran right through where we had been standing a moment before, but it didn't stop. With another deep bark, it headed back the way it had come from. The remaining wolves gave out two higher pitched barks, and one small yelp, before moving to follow their pack leader away.

"Oh no you dont!" My brother dropped his sword and brought his blaster out again, taking proper aim this time.

"Oh no, you don't." The recon knight grabbed Zimthose's hand, pushing it downwards so he couldn't shoot on the retreating beasts.

"Huh?! What do you think you're doing? They're getting away!"

"I know. We're letting them go. Now put the gun away. That's an order." Rhendon's crimson eyes seemed hard and serious. I caught my breath, unsure what my moronic brother might do. I could tell he absolutely did not want to let the wolves go, but Rhendon wasn't going to take no for an answer. 

"...Fine." Reluctantly, Zimthose put the blaster away, and picked up the sword he had dropped.

"Good. Now, what a mess…" Rhendon shook his head, looking around. The ground was covered in burn marks from my brother's horrendous shooting, some blood from the wolves had been spilt, and two of the wolves' bodies remained. I walked over to the one I had smashed with my shield.

It'd bit right through its tongue, and a few of its teeth were knocked out. Even a shield makes for a deadly weapon I suppose. I picked the least bloody tooth up and looked it over before putting it in my pocket. I walked over to where my brother and Rhendon were examining the other body. It was surrounded by golden bullet casings, had what looked like thin, yellow needles sticking out of its hide, and a couple buried atop its head.

Rhendon noticed my inquisitive gaze, and he brought out his gun. "Modified personal autogun. I call it the Blitz Needle. When suppressive fire isn't enough, there's always oppressive fire." The weapon was fairly large for a handgun, dyed a dull red and had a large drum attached underneath the gun's slightly extended barrel.

"So? Why'd you let them go?" The sound of resentment was clear in my brother's voice, and he refused to lift his gaze from the wolf's body. I looked to Rhendon for his answer, but he just stood gazing around the ex-battlefield.

At last, he finally replied. "We're the invaders here. These wolf-like creatures were probably just protecting their territory." He reloaded the drum on his gun before returning it to the holster on his belt. "I also don't care to be slaughtering alien creatures at random unless absolutely necessary. If they hadn't turned and ran, you can be sure we'd have finished them off. But we don't want to cause any harm to the planet's ecosystem or species so soon after arriving. If possible, I'd like to keep from getting into any more fights with the local wildlife." I nodded my understanding, and sympathized with that sentiment. There was no arguing the fact that in this instance, we were the aggressors encroaching on others’ territories, whether it wolves or something else. 

"Right, so. Before we were so rudely interrupted: you managed to make it here in one escape pod?" Rhendon quickly changed the subject, going back to his question from earlier. "I'll just accept that fact and ignore the statistics on how improbable that is, but if that's the case, you'll be needing more supplies for the two of you, right?" He gestured for us to follow him. He hopped inside his escape pod for a moment and brought out a basic defender's shield and a blaster. "Every pod has these, but I have my own equipment. You two should be fully geared if you're going to have the best chance at surviving out here." He hopped back out of the pod, and tossed me a sustenance bar. "Take that too. They're nasty, but necessary."

"Are you sure? You won't be needing any of this?" I asked, reluctant to take so much of the knight’s finite supplies. He opened his mouth to say something, but raised his hand for us to be quiet. Pressing a button on the communication device on his helmet, he began looking around.

"This is Recon Knight Rhendon. I've got two Recruits, err, Squires, with me. Negative, status green for now. Right… Shit. Copy that, I'll be in touch." He pressed the button again before turning to me and my brother. "Well, good news and bad news. Which do we want first?"

"Bad news first, always." Zimthose didn't even hesitate. Rhendon looked at me and I shrugged. It didn't matter anyways, so long as we got the news.

"Well the Skylark is gone. I mean, literally. At least half of it is. Eyewitness reports confirm the ship broke in two, and one part fell into the planet's odd gap on its surface. The other half is in pieces in the surrounding area, but there's no telling how much of it is salvageable. Meaning," he finished with a sigh, "there's no physical way to repair it. If we want off this rock, we’re gonna need to find a new ride.”