The small three-man squad marched out over the desert with the wolfdog at their heels, his ears down, tired, but continuing doggedly in spite of things. Each man carried their blaster in their hands, except for the man in the back, whom Gus had come to realize was the Thorin mentioned earlier. He held his gun in only one hand, swinging it around casually like it wasn't a dangerous weapon and whistling to himself as he led a packhorse over the sandy ground, carrying all their supplies. Gus tried to keep between him and what was presumably the squad leader's timid companion. He was a bit more joyful than most of Calicorp's soldiers combined. Maybe he was new. They had been travelling for a while when the man in the front stopped and held up one hand to call a halt. The squad came to a stop as he shielded his eyes from the dusk sun. Gus pricked up his ears, scanning the desert haze to see what he had seen. Thorin stopped whistling. Slowly, the forward man pointed out towards the horizon.
"vultures." Gus flicked his ears at the man's tone. He didn't like the sound of it, though he questioned what could be wrong with the sighting of a couple of birds. A couple of very specific birds.
"there's a lot of them." added his companion, standing beside him. the leader nodded gravely.
"that's what I'm afraid of."
Gus flicked his ears with disbelief, flattening them as they reached the scene of the crime. The wolfdog looked up as the leader of the small, three-man squad shielded his eyes from the sun, trying to discern what time it was. It was about 5pm. The wolfdog couldn't see his face behind the blackout helmet, but he had to imagine the human's silence meant he was angry. At least, what was what Gus felt. The wolfdog bared his teeth and growled as the more nervous man approached his leader. Then, the super dog let out an explosion of vicious, rage filled growls as he darted into the wreckage of the helicopter and clasped his jaws around a vulture too slow to take off from where it was picking at the elastic body armour of a slain Calicorp soldier, unable to break it. the wolfdog's growls of fury filled the desolate desert landscape as he tore at feathers in a frenzy, ripping them out with wild abandon to satisfy his bloodlust. That white dog better not have done this. If he did…
"this morning, I'd reckon." The nervous soldier said, to which the group leader nodded gravely and begun to walk among the bodies.
"this was Calico's transport." He said after a moment of checking for any survivors. "no sign of him though… or his cat. Just our luck, even the professor and that girl of his are gone. Whoever did this must've taken them all. Along with anyone who survived."
"who would do such a thing?" his companion asked.
"I don't know." The lucky vulture managed to escape Gus' frantic jaws and the wolfdog hurled a final growl after it, dropping his snout to the ground and beginning to sniff around for any tell-tale scents. To his surprise, there were plenty. He could smell Calico and that cat of his, the professor and his girl, even some of the men who he'd visited the last base with… and he smelt Diallo. Gus' eyes widened and his head snapped up in the direction of the scent.
Diallo. A name, a smell that he had never wanted to hear or smell again. Except now. Now with his indestructible super dog powers and fiery breath. How could Diallo possibly be a threat to him now? And if Diallo was responsible, revenge would be swift. And sweet. Oh so sweet.
The wolfdog let out several angry barks, catching the attention of the squad he was travelling with.
"…but it looks like he knows where to find the answer." the leader clutched his gun a little more tightly before looking around at footsteps as Thorin approached them. "Thorin! Find anything?" the recruit nodded, his blaster still hanging limply at his side where he held it with one hand.
"whoever shot the transport down was hidden behind those rocks over there." He said, pointing. "maybe 80 or 90 of them. perhaps even 100. Plus horses and the like for the supplies they were carrying."
"we'll be outnumbered." The leader said thoughtfully.
"but we'll have the super dog." Thorin pointed out. The squad leader had to nod.
"alright." He took a breath in and out. "let's do it." they joined the wolfdog who'd been watching them attentively, one paw lifted from the sand. Now he bounded off ahead, hot on the trail of the raiders, and not about to stop until he found who did this to his person.