127774-no-home-anymore

== Content ==
			
They say in cryo-sleep you rarely dream, but I've had this dream every night.
 
 
Somewhere in the darkness there was a flash.
I woke bolt upright as a loud indecipherable noise shook my tent. I looked around to my children as they gathered together scared in the corner. My wife looked at me with a fleck of fear in her emerald eyes.
"Stay here and watch over the little ones, I'm going to check with Dujek and see whats goin on"
I didn't get to leave the door of the tent before I felt her solid grip hold me back. "Be safe my love, and may the stones guide your path" she said. I held her close, kissing her azure lips. "I'll be fine, just keep the the lil boulders safe".
Outside the tent was the rumblings of a mass panic. Gnoxians were running left and right to gather up children, calm animals, and grab weapons. I grasped my bolt thrower off its rack and headed towards the sounds of battle.
As I walked towards the flashing bright lights I saw the wounded. I fought every urge to cry out upon seeing the shattered remains of my brethren. So many were missing pieces of their faces and arms, but not one was showing signs of pain. We Gnoxians are made of tough stuff, and we don't falter easy.
"Hey Thrunk! Move your stones and get over here, we're under attack again." It was Dujek, the leader of our tribe.
We Gnoxians have been fighting a losing battle against the Dominion for some time. They're superior firepower and advanced technology was slowly turning the tide against our catapults, bolt throwers, and Greatswords. Any other race would've given in by now, but we follow the Way of Stone. We do not bend or sacrifice our beliefs to win. We use what we have to the best of our ability and if we lose then so be it.
"Damn Thrunk.. just think if we had weapons like that, this war would be won"
I laughed out loud, "Careful Dujek, that kind of talk could get you in trouble!"
"Yeah yeah, but I'd rather *cupcake* on the elders than lose my home" he said while knocking over a younger soldier with a pat on the back. The men loved Dujek, out of all the other tribes, ours was the only one with significant victories over Dominion forces.
"What do we have this time Sarge?" I asked looking at the horizon.
"Well, looks like more of those metal fellahs, but they seem to have little rodents with them this time."
"Rodents?" That was weird I thought. This was the first we've seen of the dominion that wasn't the metal creatures called the Mechari, or the pink fleshy ones called Cassians.
"Well what are they doing?" I asked.
"They seem to be setting up the big machines that are dropping the fire from the sky" Dujek said waving his sword arm over at the other side of the valley.
"What're we gonna do about it Sarge?"
"I'll tell you what we're gonna do" Dujek said with a big grin, "We're gonna find out what those rodents taste like!"
All the warriors of the tribe cheered at that and we began to head off towards the machines in the distance.
We arrived on the other side of the valley just as the twin suns of Gnox we're rising. Dujek was leading the spear of the attack as myself and others planned to provide cover with our bolt throwers. I reached back into my satchel to grab a stone bolt and felt something else. What I found was a bit of parchment with a letter from my oldest Koragg.
It read:
Hey old man, You were busy sleepin so I put together your bolts. I hope you don't have to use them, but I wanted you to be prepared. Thanks for always protecting us and ma May the stone guide you, Koragg
It was just like him to call me old man, when he's barely even 200 cycles old! I laughed to myself and readied my thrower.
I heard a basso scream from the other side and knew that Dujek had started the attack.
As the little rodents and the machines came into view we unleashed bolts on them. The machines fell easy, shattering to bits with each hit. The rodents on the other hand were a bit harder to hit. They were fast!
One rodent seemed to be carrying a large metal machine that spit blue light. When he turned it towards us we were forced to dive behind our cover to avoid being hit. The young solider from earlier wasn't quick enough. The light hit him square in the chest and he just melted. He looked at me with real terror before the light behind his eyes went out.
Yelling in anger I lept out of cover and sprint towards the rodent. The creature hadn't expected that. I caught him by his ears and slammed him into the ground. I ripped the machine out of his hands and pointed it his face. His eyes went wide and he started gibbering at me in a jilted and broken language. I debated pulling the trigger, but I remembered our way and tossed the gun to the side. During the distraction of me tossing the weapon the critter wriggled out of my grasp and began to bound away. I raised my bolt-thrower up and let loose. The bolt found its way to its target and with a loud thump the rodent hit the ground. As I walked over to his body he started cackling. Blood and foam was on his lips as he looked me in the eyes and laughed.
"You, dumb like rock! Chua smart, we know that to break rock we find weak point" he coughed and spat up more blood. "Chua know that Granok fight to protect family. So we separate family from Granok! Granok family go boom!"
I looked around at the fellow soldiers as we all seemed to realize the same thing. We barely turned to look in the direction of our village when we were blown backwards by the force of something powerful.
I blacked out for a moment then there was the ringing. When my eyes started working again I heard screams, but not of anger. I looked to see Dujek, covered in ash and dust.
"Sarge what happened?" I asked, still trying to piece together what happened.
"Goddamnit, those rodents, the machines. It was a distraction. They took us out."
Suddenly my thoughts became clear and I looked towards the fire. My wife.... my sons... my tribe... all gone.
Dujek was silent for awhile before turning towards the rest of us. "I'm damned tired of fighting hard and losing. We lose because we refuse to do what we must. Now I'm not telling you to follow me, but I think its time we evened the playing field."
With that Dujek tossed his sword to the ground and kneeled over a metal corpse. He pulled up what looked like a hilt of a weapon and stared at it for a moment. With a flick of an unseen button a sword materialized from the hilt and pulsated.
Many soliders gasped audibly as we saw one of our sacred laws being broken.
"Too long we have let our Way of the Stone hold us down. We are not fighting someone who plays by our rules, so why should we? Its your choice, you can go to another tribe, follow an Elder and trust in the Way, but if you really want to help, you grab yourself one of these weapons and come with me. We're gonna show this Dominion what a real Gnoxian can do."
I took one last look at the fires that used to be my home. I wiped the grit and tears from my eyes and grabbed the light-spitting machine off the ground and slung it in my now-discarded bolt-thrower's holder. "I'm with you Dujek, we need to show them what kinda mistake they made".
With a sudden start I woke up, a bit of light and a gruff voice. "Hey Thrunk, trips over, we're at Nexus!" I waited until I could see before realizing it was Dujek. "C'mon Thrunk, we aint got time to wait while you wake up. Didya dream of some Obsidian beauty?"
"Yeah Sarge, she was a real beaut"
This is my first time really sharing anything with anyone, be nice please!	
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