Post #2564059 in Within the Veil, a roleplay on RPG

Alten sighed as he sat himself down atop a rutty old sleeping pad, sniffling a bit as dust was kicked up off of it. They had somehow been able to find themselves into a second story room, located a bit away from where they had barely escaped the pirates. The room was small, with only one window that was closed up by some ratty curtains and a sliding metal door; all it had was the sleeping pad, a decrepit old blanket that had holes in it and was plenty dirty with a seemingly endless amount of sand lost in its fibers. A small trunk was in the room, but it was empty and broken. It was the kind of furniture that was brought along with the first colonists to a new planet, things that were light and easy to carry. Usually it was a few years before much luxury was brought down for the inhabitants, and Ko'val hadn't lasted long enough for the new shipment to arrive for them.

Alten yawned and rubbed his eyes as he sat there, the familiar feeling of fatigue settling over his tired body. They'd been moving for a couple hours, and if Alten was feeling cold from the desert night he could only imagine how Arina was feeling. He looked over to her, having offered the blanket to her first. It wasn't much, but again it was better than nothing.

He set the knife down next to him as he leaned against the wooden trunk, which probably had managed to not rot away simply because of the dry conditions of this place. Speaking of dry, Alten licked his lips as it'd been a while since he'd been able to get a drink of any kind of water. They should have checked the pirate bodies before they had fled, as he was certain they would have had canteens of some kind on them. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes again before looking back over to Arina. "We'll rest here, alright?"

Having taken the blanket that was offered, Arina curled in on herself against the wall. She'd slid down it once they entered the small room and hadn't moved since. Curled up once again, the jacket that she'd been given had only offered so much warmth when the sun set. Honestly she was freezing with nothing covering her legs and a thin jacket to break the wind.

Dropping her head against her knees, she wrapped the blanket around her despite feeling a tingling sensation all along her skin with the knowledge that the blanket had been sitting around for several years. It sent chills of disgust down her back, but at that moment, she was grateful for any kind of warmth really, even if the blanket had holes in it.

At Alten's voice, she hardly lifted her head. A slight nod was her only response along with a mumbled, "Alright," to go along with the head motion. During the long hours of walking, she'd been lost in a haze. It was too horrifying to think straight as all that came to mind were the harsh memories of the attack. In addition to that, the Major's order rang out in her mind constantly that she was not to leave the ship. That he didn't want to fight through a sea of pirates just to save her.

She cringed, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The icy cold pang of guilt that washed through her made her curl in tighter on herself. What little respect she'd gained from the Commodore and Major were probably thrown out the window then. Surely by that time Major Aigidios knew what she'd done. Arina ground her teeth tightly as she shifted uncomfortably against the wall, her fingers reaching up to grip locks of her black hair and pull painfully in response to her deep frustrations.

Alten watched Arina, a feeling of hopelessness crossing over his features for a moment. He could tell just how upset and uncomfortable she was. Her simple gestures spoke volumes, and he knew she had never been trained to face this kind of stress. From fatigue, to the cold, to facing the horrifying things she'd just gone through, to the frustration she was clearly feeling. Even Alten was certain that had their positions been swapped, he'd be close to breaking under the pressure just as much as she was.

The only thing that was stopping himself from breaking was just a little voice in his head, a tiny one that kept telling him to keep going. The voice developed from the hounding of Drill Instructors telling him to keep going, to keep moving. The simple concept hammered into his head in boot camp, to never stop and never give in.

Watching her, he slowly moved over to her and then knelt down in front of her. He had picked up the knife he had been given by the strange figure from before and had tucked it into his belt. He slowly put a hand on her shoulder. "Arina, I know this may seem awkward, but with this cold...we aren't going to make it through this unless we...uh...well we are gonna have to share body heat if we want to have a chance..." It sounded awkward for him to say, even though he knew it made perfect sense to do. It was odd for him to say, but given her condition he could only imagine that it seemed like he was trying to take advantage of the situation. "A-and I promise, not just trying to take a-adavantge of a be-beautiful half-naked woman...I promise." he said, barely managing to crack a smile as he made a poor attempt at a joke.

Regardless, he then sat down next to her, pulling the blanket away from her slowly, to not startle her. Once he had, he then moved in close to her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her against him before wrapping the blanket around themselves again. In truth, he had done this partly as a simple means of survival, but also because he felt like she needed something to try and distract her from her thoughts. Something to stop her from breaking under all the pressure. He looked at her, just watching her. "I know it may not mean much, but...to have made it this far does speak of how strong you are, Arina. To not have any kind of experience with this, and yet to keep pace with someone who has done this multiple times." He tightened his arm around her, already enjoying the warmth of her body against his own, looking at the wall across the room. "That takes spirit and strength, a kind that not everyone has."

Arina only flinched when he touched her, but after that she didn't move. Her body was numb with the cold as well as the earlier events. Her mind was a blank slate and honestly that was what had gotten her so far. Hardly listening to him, she didn't hear most of what he said until the very end. Not even his calling her beautiful or commenting on her state of appearance. Numbed to just about everything, she only shook her head when she heard him say that it took spirit and strength. For what? To curl in a ball and cry?

Arina laughed lightly, a sarcastic sound without mirth. She felt his heat then as well and curled into it as she shook her head again and let out a long sigh. The only other heat she felt was the heat of her tears filling her eyes again as she answered him in sour tones, "This... Is not strength, Alten," she breathed shakily, "The only reason... I've come this far... Is because I've shut out everything."

"I can't... Think. I can't move. I can't... Do anything," her voice trembled. Turning her body, she buried her head in his chest as she let out another crying sob and curled her fingers tightly against his chest, clinging to the cloth of his shirt, "You... Could have been killed! I... Disobeyed the Major... I've jeopardized this entire mission!"

He looked down at her, feeling as she moved closer to him and clung to him. He just let her say her piece before speaking again. "I remember thinking the same thing during sniper training back in the Marines." he smiled to himself, looking forwards. "Crawling through yards upon yards of muck and filth, having to duck and swim through stagnant swamp water, followed by miles of running, then push-ups, sits-ups, and whatever ups the instructor could think of at the time."

He laid his head back against the wall behind him."That was only the first day, and we only got a few hours of sleep. Dragging our sorry asses out of bed and shuffling to where they wanted us next. More workouts, more running, then having us do stalking drills." His hand slowly began to rub her back as he got lost in his thoughts. "That first week was hell...by the end, none of us could think, you could have asked us what two plus two was and we'd give you a blank stare trying to figure out if you were even speaking English. In end, the only reason we passed that week of hell was because we simply refused to stop moving, to stop going forwards." He chuckled softly, "Even skittish Corporal Ashley." He let out a sigh of content as his chuckling settled, "Loved the look on the head instructor's face when he had to pay one of the other instructors for losing the bet on whether I'd make it or not."

"Felt good once that week was over, I tell you what. Course that was just the week to see if we had what it takes to physically push ourselves to that brink and keep going. To come face to face with the wall, and then to climb up and over and keep moving onto the next one." He just watched ahead, his hand moving across her back without any real thought on his part, his other hand reaching up to adjust his glasses before it pulled the blanket around themselves again.

For some reason, the more Alten spoke in his soft tones, the calmer she became. Though her body was still tense and her tears still pooling in her eyes, she found it easier to breathe as he talked about his past. It was the first she'd heard of it from him. She'd known about his military past, after all it was in his documents. But to hear it from him was an entirely different thing.

Curling closer to him, she tucked her legs against his side and thigh, hugging her body up against him like a pillow. A warm pillow that was easing into her mind and making it foggy. She was getting slightly dizzy, and her eyes seemed to refuse to stay opened for much longer. Every aching muscle was growing numb as she started to drift.

"That sounds... Horrid," she muttered, "You're... Very strong," Arina managed to get the words out and maybe she'd have said more, but between his gentle strokes along her back, his soothing tone and his heat, her body shut down too quickly. Dragged off into sleep, her fingers loosened and slipped from where she'd been clinging to him. It was blissful really, the darkness that dragged her down from consciousness. Her chest hurt, her ribs, her bare feet, the numbing cold that made every inch of her body ache terribly... The release from all of that was more than welcomed.

Even if the darkness brought back unwelcome memories of pirates.

As she moved closer to him, it caused him to wince slightly when she brushed one of the sore spots on his ribs. He held still though as the pain shot through his side, instead just saying a quiet, "Ow..." and shifting some to make himself comfortable. He watched as Arina just about passed out, straining his ears to catch the last few words she said before she was out cold.

"Yeah...I guess I am." He watched her before looking on ahead, letting his head rest back against the wall behind him while he yawned. He shifted himself, trying to benefit from the heat of her own body as he tried to keep back the cold. "Yet you are the one who intimidates me, Admiral." He closed his eyes, wrapping his other arm around her. "And you are the one who is Admiral of an entire fleet. Ironic, I guess." he muttered the last bit, feeling as sleep slowly began to take over him as well. His head drooped to the side until it was resting on top of her's, his body finally giving out to the fatigue he himself was feeling.

~~~

Arlan's head met the side of the mecha with a loud thunk as he let it fall forwards, just flopping against it as he finally finished up replacing the engine Syrin had broke. He was actually up on top of the mecha, though now he was lying against it, yawning loud and long after having been at work for the past...lots of hours. He had no clue how long it'd been, or how many cups of coffee he'd gone through at this point. All he knew is that he probably should be dead with the amount of caffeine within his system. Maybe he'd built a tolerance over these years or something.

He opened his good eye, scanning the hangar which had never once ceased its buzz of activity. Now that the Knights were down on the surface securing the Spaceport, it seemed the pirates were poking and prodding at them. No serious engagements as of yet, but Arlan knew it was working its way there. Yawning again, he then glanced around, not bothering to lift his head up as he looked for Syrin.

"There! Finally done fixing up your goof up, miss Eulina!" he shouted out to be heard over the sound of an impact driver elsewhere in the hangar. "No goof is too much for this engineer." he said with a grin, voice somewhat slurred from his lack of sleep.

Syrin sighed heavily as she stretched out across the wing of her mecha. The finishing touches of the new plating in place, she let the tools in her hands clank loudly against the metal sheeting as she dropped her hands up over her head as she stretched out on her back.

Unknown to her, dark smudges crossed over her nose and cheeks, dropping down her neckline and coating her fingers heavily. When she heard Arlan's voice from the other side of her mecha, she tilted her head back to look to where his voice had come from. With another sigh, one of relief this time, she rolled to her stomach and got up to her feet to cross the huge wing of her mecha and find Arlan stretched out across the back of her mecha near the engine.

"Good to know, Laddermore," she offered in return, "Seeing as the damage wasn't all that bad," she finished as she leaned against the side of the craft as it lifted up slightly above the wing. Syrin let her head drop against the side of her arm as she looked over at the mechanic. The only things left were calibrating her systems to the new engine and making sure everything was tuned right.

She was so tired though, having been working on the damned thing with Arlan for hours on end. Even so, she knew if they stopped now they would both crash out and sleep for days, and the mecha wouldn't be finished entirely for her next sortie, "Alright 'master engineer', last thing, my computer system. Make sure it all works. But I can do that, I suppose, unless you want to watch," she offered. Though she wouldn't let just anyone touch the systems inside the cockpit, watching was a different thing entirely. She didn't mind, just don't touch it. That was her only condition.

"Oh no, not bad at all..." Arlan grumbled out while yawning, stretching out both his legs and arms as he did so before going limp, turning his eye to look up at Syrin. "We just had to replace a whole engine is all and about several hours worth of armor replacement." He then rolled onto his back and sat up, rubbing his eye, smudging his face as he did so. He looked at her as he let his arms just rest on his lap.

"Yeah, let's get the system check out of the way. Because damn am I tired. So tired I'm considering saying flirtatious stuff to you." He said with a grin, standing up and stretching out his torso and back. "Let's get to it, Syrin. Before I start spitting out terrible pick-up lines to you." He then began walking towards the cockpit. He knew how touchy she was about it, so he had no intention of hopping inside, but he wanted to make sure this bird was set and ready to go should it be needed.

"Flirt? With me? Yes, I think your mind is muddled with sleep. As well as too much caffeine... Seriously, I've never seen any man drink so much and still be standing," she said as he walked by to the cockpit. Shaking her head slightly she followed after him and dropped down into the pilots seat with the hatch still wide open for Arlan to watch from outside of it.

Glancing up at him, she continued with the teasing, "You know I'm tempted to hear what you would say in such a 'flirting' fashion. It'd be very entertaining I'm sure," she said as she turned the computer on and started working away at the keys, her fingers just about flying across the light up board that opened up across the screen in front of her.

"Trust me, Syrin, you do not want to hear me flirt." He said with a grin as he sat down next to the cockpit, leaning against the mecha as he watched her. "It'd result in me making one line comments about your looks, then me awkwardly mentioning either your boobs or butt, then me walking off to smack me head repeatedly with the nearest blunt object."

He looked off towards the coffee, as her mention of it made him a bit thirsty for more of it before he looked back towards her. "Why do you think I stick around machines so much? Far less chance of when I say something stupid, that I'll feel awkward, embarrassed, and also not be smacked, either by myself or by the machine." He smiled at her. "Though I think this mecha has whacked me here and there now that I think about it..." He said, looking back towards the engine and rubbing his head where his wrench had whacked him after having come free while he was trying to pry a bolt loose.

Syrin's lips twitched, a bit of a grin curving there for a moment before it disappeared again, "Well of course, it's my mecha," she said as if it were common sense, "Even so, your flirting is rather... Interesting. Do explain, what would be even the slightest appealing in regards to my chest and ass, Arlan?" she asked, glancing up at him briefly before continuing on with her work.

As her fingers flew away across the keyboard, the engine roared to life and the mecha seemed to shift just slightly though it didn't go anywhere. She let it run for a little while before shutting it off and turning to the controls to make sure that all of the movable parts were in order, especially with the new plating's added onto it.

Arlan blinked, confused for a moment before his face flushed some. "Well...um...uh..." He stumbled along, not really sure what to say. "They...well they are...um...nice?" he said the last part with a tone that clearly showed his hesitation and confusion. After that, he was very tempted to bang his head against the mecha, though with how hard he wanted to there was a chance they'd either have to replace the armor plating or Syrin would be left to clean the blood stains off of it once he passed out from a concussion.

He quickly sought to change the subject, "So! How are those controls and systems?! It all looking good?" he said, quickly looking off as he did not want her to see his face at the moment.

"Nice? That's the best you could do?" Syrin asked, feigning anger, "I see why you would wish to bang your head against something."

Syrin's attention went to the mecha's report as she pulled it up after testing the wings and directional controls. Everything seemed to be in working order which pleased her. So she set to calibrating the controls to fit her style. Making tiny adjustments to the controls in the computer and putting the system back the way she liked it since they had to dismantle the engine earlier.

"So far it's looking just fine. Definitely doing better than you are at complimenting me," Syrin offered to him.

"Yay!" Was all Arlan offered, clearly still trying to deflect the situation away from discussing her...figure. Arlan cleared his throat, glancing to her and watching her for a few moments before quickly skittering off of the mecha and to the floor below. "Good to know, Syrin!" he said while walking over to one of the two coffee pots they had stolen and pouring himself a cup.

He then took a quick sip, and as the cold and bitter liquid met his tongue, it served as a good distraction. "Now then, we can get beyond your wonderfully tight and firm buttocks!" he immediately slapped a hand over his mouth, just standing there with the cup of coffee in his hand. He just stared up at her, keeping his hand over his mouth. After a moment of silence, he lowered his hand and quietly took a long sip of the coffee while turning to look away from her, again trying to keep his face hidden from her view.

"Is that what you think of my ass?" Syrin asked him, perfectly serious as she continued finishing up the minute calibrations to her machine, "Hmm... That's better than 'nice' I suppose, but you definitely need work, Arlan."

Syrin finished up the work she was doing on the systems and pushed up from the cockpit. Climbing out of it, she clambered down from the mecha and dropped to the floor with a soft thud of her boots. Moving over to where he was standing she got herself a cup of the cold, black coffee as well and leaned against the table they had commandeered for use of the coffee pot. Her gaze never left Arlan though as she wasn't quite finished with teasing him.

"Want to try that again, master of seduction?"

He did turn to look at her as he heard her drop down from her mecha then come walking over. When he heard her grabbing another cup, he finally turned enough to glance at her out of the corner of his eye before looking back ahead and taking another long swig. Once done he then turned to fully look at her. "I told you I wasn't very good at it!" He suddenly said, very defensive before turning again to look away from her.

"This is exactly why I stick around machines all the time, far less awkward to talk too..." he grumbled while crossing one of his arms across his chest, lifting the other up to finish off the coffee he had poured himself.

"I see," Syrin said simply. Whether she was miffed about the prospect or not it was hard to tell. Shifting around, she pulled the cup of coffee up to her lips and took a small drink of it, "Well, then I guess if you can't flirt then you'd have even more trouble with other things, wouldn't you," she said, glancing over at him briefly to see if her teasing did anything else to him.

His face went quite red when she made that jab, and he choked slightly on the coffee before wiping his mouth clean after barely managing to swallow it. "H-hey! Ok that's just not fair to make that judgement!" he choked out, pointing at her. "S-so I can't flirt very well! Doesn't mean I'm....I'm too terrible at other...things." He paused before saying the word "things" as now he was wondering just what kind of trap he had thrown himself into.

He watched her for a moment before walking up to the table, not looking at her as he set the coffee cup down. He'd rather do that now before he accidentally dropped it and had another mess to clean up.

Syrin sipped at the coffee as he stuttered and went on the defensive. When he finished and put his own coffee cup down, she stood for a while longer without saying a word as she watched him. Finally, Syrin moved and tilted her head off to the side as she thought of what else to say to him.

"Oh. So you're more physical. Can't talk but you can just dive right into it, hu? How interesting, I didn't peg you for the forceful type. That's alright, not that that's bad or anything. I suppose I wouldn't mind if you did. After all, you're quite attractive yourself, Arlan...At least..." she leaned over to get a little closer, rather enjoying her bout of teasing as well as his stuttering. It was quite entertaining to listen too after all, "You're good with your hands, aren't you?"

She almost lost her composure. Laughter just on the tip of her tongue for the first time in a very long time. Even the little grin that she sometime's acquired when enjoying banter between the men she always was around was hard to keep off her lips.

Arlan's one eye was now as wide as it could be, and his face was almost as red as his hair, or at least it felt that way. "Well....um...I guess....possibly..." His mouth froze open, his words having been caught in his throat. He glanced slightly over at her, looking her over before looking away and clearing his throat. "T-thank you-Syrin-good-luck-bye!!!" he shot out those words as he quickly gathered up some of the tools and quickly began walking off to put them away.

And then he wanted to hit himself, because now he just probably dropped a big chance with Syrin. He hung his head in defeat, cursing his awkwardness sometimes. Come on, Arlan! Not like she'd be the first girl you've ever been with! one voice shouted in his head.

The other shouting back Don't care!! Never getting use to it so screw you!

The first one grumbled back, How about we just screw Syrin and get past this awkwardness already...

Not helping!!

Did I tease him too much? Syrin thought to herself as he walked off. Once again, she felt a little miffed at his ditching her right in the middle of their flirting. Or was she just flirting with him and he was running away? That's what it felt like anyway. She watched him go for a little while longer before letting out a sigh and turning away with a shrug of her shoulders.

Had she read too much into it? After all, he'd dropped lines like that inconspicuously about her being pretty and what not for a while. Maybe it wasn't meant for anything. Well, whatever it was, she still enjoyed his company no matter what. Hopefully her testing his limits like that wouldn't ruin their relationship as friends. As long as they stayed friends, she was happy with that. Though she might have been looking forward to what it was like to have... more?

Syrin wasn't really sure. After all she'd been taught to act like a man and not like a woman. Though the teasing and flirting just then felt rather exciting. Maybe she would try it again, just to see. However, right then, she needed to make sure there weren't any new orders for her and the team to head back to Ko'val. After all, there was a pirate invasion to deal with somehow. With that in mind, Syrin headed off toward the catwalk to search for Major Aigidios for her next orders.

Arlan was so lost in his arguments with himself, he just about screamed when he felt hands latch onto his shoulders and pull him to the side. He looked up to see the mask of a power armored Knight having caught him from running into him. Arlan blinked, as that would explain why he had been moved so easily.

"Careful Laddermore," The knight said simply before letting the engineer go and continuing on his way, followed closely behind by several other power armored knights. Arlan snapped to attention though, giving the Sentinel-Major a salute as the man walked past, decked out in his armor with his helmet tucked under his arm. Aigidios had a very serious look on his face, and on his back was the rather large HF sword the Major was well known for using. He stopped when he noticed Arlan, turning to regard the one-eyed man.

"Engineer Laddermore, is Cavalier Eulina's mecha set and ready to go?" He asked, Arlan relaxing from his salute.

"Y-yes sir, Sentinel-Major." Arlan was still slightly rattled by Syrin's flirting with him, though he was able to recover quickly to stop the stuttering of his voice. "We just finished up repairs of it."

The Major's face scrunched into a bit of a scowl, " 'We'?" he asked.

"Yes sir, Cavalier Eulina helped me with the repairs."

The Major sighed some, before turning and looking down the bay before back to Arlan, "Thank you, Laddermore. Is the Cavalier with her mecha still?"

"I just left her there a moment ago, sir." Arlan said.

The Major nodded his head, "Thank you, Laddermore." Aigidios quickly returned the salute Arlan gave him before turning and walking down towards Syrin's mecha, his quickened steps moving him towards it rapidly. Arlan watched the Major go, now a look of concern on his features before he quickly followed after the Sentinel-Major and his retinue of Knights. "Cavalier Eulina!" the Major called out, looking around as he stopped by the freshly repaired machine.

Partway up the steps to get up to the top of the catwalk, Syrin heard her name hollered out from below. Halting in her advance, she turned to see just the man she was looking for. A questioning eyebrow lifted up as she eyed the Major all decked out in his power armor. Was he going down to Ko'val as well? Not that she didn't expect the Major to ever fight, but it was something she was not used to seeing yet.

Quickly coming back down to stand in front of him, Syrin gave him a sharp salute and stood at attention in front of him as she answered his call with a simple, "Major." Judging from the way he was dressed and the contingent of soldiers also covered in power armor, Syrin was fairly sure they were heading down to the planet and most likely in a matter of minutes. Though she was utterly tired from working on her mecha, it really wasn't anything new to her. In fact, she was looking forward to going back down and getting another shot at those bastards.

Aigidios returned the salute before relaxing, looking at the mecha. "I see you and Laddermore fixed it up quite well. Are you in condition to take it out into the field again?" He looked at her, fixing her with a hard stare. "If you are too tried, then you are to remain here as I do not want you endangering anybody when we attack the pirates. I'll let you make that decision. If you feel you are ready, then get the mecha fired up and get down to the spaceport. Rendezvous with the other Knights down there and await for further orders."

With that, he gave her another salute, waiting for her to return it before turning and walking off with his group, not waiting for her answer. Arlan came walking over, watching the Knights go before moving over to Syrin. "Damn, the Major looks quite worked up." He said while watching the Knights walk off, Aigidios stopping to talk with a few more Knights before moving onwards.

Syrin gave him the salute he was waiting for and just as she was about to answer his demands, Major Aigidios was already marching off without giving her a chance to let him know if she was going or not. She only relaxed once he had his back to her, dropping out of being at attention. Syrin's lips pulled into a frown as she watched him talk to the others that still lingered in the hangar bay.

Looking over to Arlan she shrugged slightly, "Must be something in regards to the planet. In any case, I'll be off then," she said and headed toward the mecha, her gear still on anyway from the last mission aside from her helmet which was in the cockpit of her machine. Climbing up to the top of the metal catwalk, she went out onto the top of the mecha. Before dropping down into the cockpit, she glanced over to Arlan down below.

"I'll try not to scratch it this time," she offered, a very slight, teasing grin on her lips, "Or maybe I'll damage it just enough so that I can feed you more caffeine."

Arlan watched her go, following her and stopping below the cockpit and watching her go. He nodded his head. "Guess it must be; gotta say though I almost envy you, possibly getting to see the Major in combat." he said before looking back down the bay.

He looked back up at her as Syrin climbed into the cockpit, and he grinned some at her comment. He thought of a retort, though he faltered and could only think of something sappy instead. "Just don't come back banged up yourself, ok? The mecha I can fix!" He said while stepping back. "You not so much!"

Once he had stepped back, looking around to make sure he wasn't in the way of anyone else, he then looked back to her and gave her a thumbs up. "Good luck down there!"

Syrin gave a slight huff as she watched him during his response, "I'll be back, in one piece, I promise," she replied and dropped down into the cockpit, "As if I'd let something ridiculous like that happen," she muttered to herself. It was nearly unthinkable in her mind to be wounded while operating a machine.

"Engine start," she commanded and the mecha roared to life. Directing the machine to the launch strip, she tugged the helmet on over her head, the glass falling down to cover her face entirely and the rest of her suit uncurling around her neck to secure itself to the thick black helmet.

Once she was on the strip, the voice of one of the lieutenants on the bridge filled her mecha as she gave Syrin the okay to launch. The engine flared, pale blue light exploding from the back of it as she put the throttle nearly to full and rocketed out of the loading bay and into the darkness of space. It took her only a few minutes to come full circle around the Gjallahorn and head down to Ko'val. From there, it would be about ten minutes for her to arrive at the spaceport where she would wait for the rest of her orders.

As she flew down to the spaceport, she wondered to herself about Arlan, "Maybe it wasn't hinting enough? Too much... Maybe?" Syrin sighed a bit, "I don't know. Well, whatever. Figure it out later I suppose," she said as she dropped through the atmosphere and headed straight for the spaceport. At that moment, figuring out how to 'act like a woman' so that Arlan's little comments about her being pretty could be cleared up as either attraction to her or just him being himself would have to wait until after the mission.

~~~

Alten shifted some, asleep still against the wall of the small room he and Arina had settled into for the night. As the sun had rose, the area now beginning to warm up quite quickly, he had slowly shed the blanket from himself in his sleep. As the sun shined through a hole in the curtains of the room and right into his eyes, he groaned a bit, shifting his head and burying his face into Arina's hair to shield his eyes.

As he shifted, he wrapped his arms around her more and pulled her against him tighter, trying to keep his face hidden from the sunlight shining in his face. He shifted some at the sound of running feet not far outside, alongside the shouting of several voices.

Having been awake for some time, Arina had laid against Alten for what seemed like hours on end. The warmth of the sun as it filtered into the room took off the edge of the chill from the night before, yet for some reason, she still felt like ice had crept over her entire body. She hated the feeling as it made her shiver and even curling the blanket around her wasn't enough to get warm. Even with Atlen's added heat.

Alten moved, taking her attention as he ducked his head down into her hair and pulled her tighter into his arms. Wincing at the movement and sharp shooting pain down her rib cage, she angled her arms up between them so that she wasn't entirely crushed against him. Was he still asleep? She couldn't really tell. Arina was about to say something to him when the loud sounds of running caught her attention. Following that was shouting and her heart skipped a beat before it began wildly pumping in her chest.

With fear clouding her mind and body, Arina strained to see just who it was outside that was making so much noise. The blanket slipped off of her shoulders and she nearly lost Alten's jacket as she wiggled her way out of his grip despite how much her body ached and didn't want to move. Once she was free of him, she crawled across the floor on hands and knees that trembled as her breathing increased rapidly into shaking pants of fear.

Was it pirates? Was it Grimfist? She froze in her advance to the doorway that led into the room they were staying in. Using the door frame to help her to her bruised feet, she stood and leaned out to try to see who it was and hoped to God that they weren't in the hallway and wouldn't spot her.

In only a few swift motions, a hand slapped over Arina's mouth, the body of the hand moving behind her and wrapping its other arm around her to drag her back into the room. It was followed by a figure dressed in the light plated armor, a large rifle slung on it's back and large pistol in its hand with a knife in the other. The one holding Arina dragged her back into the room and ducked around the corner of the door frame, keeping its clawed hand over her mouth to silence her.

The other quickly slipped into the room and shut the door as quietly and quickly as it could, before it backed up away to the side of the door. It had its pistol raised at the doorway and its knife poised to strike. Neither of them made any noise, and remained very still at the sound of running footsteps going by the doorway.

"Where the fuck did they go?!" A man shouted from outside the doorway and in the hallway. The source of the voice was only separated from the four occupants of the room by the thin wall of the room.

"Slippery little shits! The captain is going to be pissed..." a female said, then something crashed at the end of the hallway and a heavy silence filled the area. Both figures in the room froze, Alten shifting in his sleep some and grumbling. At his sound, the one not holding Arina turned and pointed its gun at Alten before it looked back to the doorway.

"Come on, let's move!" The female shouted before the people could be heard running back down the hallway and away from the room. Neither of them moved, one watching the door while the one holding Arina watched the window. After a few tense moments of silence from the individuals, the one holding Arina simply made a soft hushing sound to her, slowly removing its hand and arm from around her and drawing its own pistol from its waist.

The moment the hand clamped over her mouth, Arina's screaming started. The only problem was that it was muffled and hardly got out of her throat as she was pulled back into the room. Her fingers reached up to try to tear at the hand that was over her mouth as her gaze grew wide at what entered the room with the one who had grabbed her. Her legs flailed outwards, kicking as she was pulled back, though it seemed the one who held her wasn't even phased by her thrashing.

As the other closed the door and held its gun to the doorway, the sounds of footsteps clattered through the air and Arina's screaming stopped as she froze in the grip of whomever had her. With shaking, soft little cries of terror, she watched the doorway in horror, waiting for something terrible to happen, for something to come bursting through and killing them all. Or worse.

Then, the sounds of the pirates filled the air, their voices enraged as they trashed the place looking for something. Then it hit Arina... They were looking for Alten and her. A crying moan escaped her lips as tears streamed. If it weren't for the person holding her, she would have collapsed to the floor. Her legs were shaking so badly she could hardly stand.

However, as Alten shifted in his sleep and made a sound, the one at the door suddenly turned and pointed his weapon at the man and Arina lurched forward. Shaking her head frantically, she tried to convey something, anything to the one holding Alten at gun point, though she highly doubted they cared as it seemed she was being ignored.

Painfully long minutes passed by before the pirates left and even then it wasn't until a long while after that the two in the room even moved. The one that held Arina cooed at her softly and released her. The Admiral dropped to the floor in a shaking heap. Everything hurt, it hurt to stand, it hurt to breathe, it just hurt. Not to mention she was utterly freezing still. Trembling violently, she slowly lifted up her head and looked at the two who had entered the room, her gaze dropping to the rather large looking weapons in their clawed hands.

When she opened her mouth, incoherent words tumbled out, hardly even words at all really, more like jumbled sounds as she tried to speak. It took her a few times, but she finally managed a soft, "Who...?" and then her gaze shot to Alten. Glancing back up at the two in the room, she took a deep breath and threw herself up onto her hands and knees and started as quickly as she could over to him, her heart pounding hard in her throat as she scurried across the floor to get to him.

The two figures watched Arina collapse to the ground before she moved over back to Alten. They watched her, their entire faces hidden behind their masks. The one holding the knife and pistol turned to look at the other, who happened to be missing its own knife. "Tredr dak Asu damol, Erba?" it said, it's tone conveying that it was asking the other a question.

The one without the knife watched Alten and Arina, the former marine beginning to stir due to the slight commotion. It then spoke, "Yajad dakol rugundra ra korsa." both of their voices were deep, many of the sounds they made coming from the very back of their throats as they spoke. The one without the knife then pointed to Alten who was beginning to wake up. "Best silence him, before dakul alerts gordarns."

Alten yawned, stretching his arms and then groaning in annoyance when his hand patted around for Arina. Opening his eyes, he then blinked and glanced around in a haze. "Admiral...?" he asked before looking at her, then slowly his eyes settled on the other two within the room. blinking, his eyes widened as he quickly grabbed hold of the knife and moved between them and Arina. As he did so, the one that had both of its weapons had its pistol raised, causing Alten to freeze in place.

"Dur'yi Wu." it said, Alten just staring confused at it.

"W-what..? Wait, you...you gave me this knife." Alten responded, looking towards the one missing its knife.

The sounds of their guttural voices made Arina shiver. It was obvious to her then that they were of a different race. What race though, she wasn't entirely sure. Her mind wasn't working properly anyway to deduce who they were. All she knew was that they were much bigger than her and with weapons. Then they spoke in a language she could understand and her gaze lifted to look over her shoulder at the one who spoke, holding its weapon out at Alten who was starting to wake up.

Her heart slammed in her chest as Alten searched for her blearily for a moment and then once he found her, he crossed the room rather quickly to put himself in front of her. Arina took a sharp breath as he drew up his weapon and faced the two intruders, except he froze as the rather large and intimidating gun was pointed at him. Arina's heart nearly stopped at the sight.

She listened, only understanding Alten after all and her body shuddered slightly. Alten had seen them before? When? She stared at his back for a long while before inching closer to him and curling up against his back, "Y-you saw... Them? Before?" she asked softly, though she was more shocked by the fact they'd just saved her and Alten from the hands of the pirates. It was probably worth mentioning as well since Alten was still holding the weapon and the other was pointing the gun at him.

"A-Alten... They... Saved us... I think. The pirates. They were looking for us. They came very close... But... These two... Helped us, hid us in the room," she said, squeezing the words out from her tight throat. Not to mention a horrid headache pounding away at the back of her skull. Her shivers had turned to being too hot and she was half tempted to take the coat off her back as she knelt there.

"Demz not save dam. Gordarns chasing...us." The one without the knife said, though it was clear that he was having some difficulty speaking Arina's and Alten's tongue. Alten could tell that the two soldiers in front of him and Arina understood the two of them, and even understood how to speak their language. What they spoke or who they were Alten didn't know, nor at the moment was he really concerned with figuring it out. "Convenience brought demug together," the figure continued, waving his hand around to indicate all of them when he said "demug." He lowered its hand, Alten casting a glance to his companion who still had its gun pointed at Alten.

The one with only a pistol pointed to Arina with his empty hand, Alten reflexively pushing her behind himself more when it did. "Daku open door when demz run by, so...we," he struggled for the word "we" for a moment before continuing, "we decide to hide in room." He then looked at Arina. He put his free hand on chest, patting himself as he spoke again, "Deml apologize for scare."

Alten glanced back at Arina before looking at them, nodding his head somewhat. "Well...alright then. Do you want the knife back?" he asked, though he was very hesitant to give it back as it was the only weapon the pair had at the moment.

To Alten's relief, he shook his head at Alten's question and held out a hand to refuse the item back, to at least signal to Alten he did not want it back. "Deml tell dam...you...to survive, damt doing so and continue to use asu to do so."

Alten looked at the knife, what he figured the individual meant by "asu" then back to them. "Thank you, then." he said, though he was a bit hesitant to do so as he was not yet sure how friendly these two were.

The one with both its weapons looked to the other, growling slightly before speaking again, "Wun rata?", Alten could tell by its tone that it was becoming impatient.

The other looked at it, snorting for a moment and nodding his head. The one with both weapons didn't wait and quickly moved to the door, sitting there for a moment listening before looking back at the other who was still looking towards Arina and Alten. The one with just a knife watched them for a moment before it spoke again, "Eelaun...They...call...me, Vasile Surral. Survive." Vasile said before looking to the other and nodding his head. The one by the door quickly opened it up, both of them moving into the hallway with their pistols at the ready and turning to look down both ends. "Yik." Vasile said, the other one responding in kind before the two of them quickly turned and made their way in the direction the pirates had run.

Huddling behind Alten, Arina listened to the two of them speak to one another, Alten's clear words ringing out which made trying to listen to the other harder as his speech was much more rough and hardly clear at all. Arina couldn't quite follow, not with the headache pounding away, but she was able to figure out that the two strangers had been chased by the pirates. The one that had grabbed her even apologized for it... If it was an apology, she wasn't quite sure.

When they left, she let out a sigh of relief and fell forward against Atlen's back, her head nestled between his shoulder blades. Closing her eyes, she felt as if she could sleep for an eternity. Even so, she knew doing so wasn't the best course of action. Arina tried to focus on the situation. The two strangers the one was called Vasile, wasn't it?... Had left out the door, which meant that the pirates weren't anywhere nearby. At least she was hoping that was the case.

If so, her and Alten should take the same course of action. After all, remaining in the building could result in them being found. Hell, she'd nearly gotten Alten and herself in a dangerous situation. Had it been pirates instead of... those two, there was no telling what could have happened. No. Scratch that. She knew exactly what would have happened. Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind of those horrid thoughts.

"Alten..." she called to him with a cracked voice, "We should leave. Can't stay here. We have to get back," Arina was struggling to get her mind in working order. Needless to say it wasn't really working, aside from keeping the other thoughts at bay for the moment. She supposed that was a plus, but she still couldn't formulate any coherent plans. The only thing she could think of was getting a hold of Major Aigidios. Even that wasn't really something she wanted to do.

Facing that man as she was right then... Arina wasn't sure she could do it. Another deep breath invaded her lungs as she shifted and pushed off of Alten's back. One step at a time... One thing at a time. One problem at a time, she thought to herself and looked over to the doorway. For a moment fear kept her in place, then the thought of having to stand and move added to it. Grinding her teeth, she took the coat in her hands and pulled it tighter around her.

"I'm so sorry, Alten. Please, forgive me..."

Alten watched them leave and then head on down the hallway, then he heard Arina sigh and fall against his back. He looked back to her, reaching a hand back and gripping her forearm then spinning around to face her while still holding it. He watched her, nodding his head to her words. "We do, we do, Arina." he said. It felt odd for him to actually use her name, something he had found himself doing through this whole mess. Course given the circumstances, formality wasn't a necessity and was more a waste.

When she apologized to him, Alten simply moved his head so that they could make eye contact. "Save the apologies for when we make it back, ok Arina? Don't think about anything other than making it back to the Stellae Caelator, focus only on that and we can make it." he smiled softly to her, putting his other hand on her shoulder before he slowly rose to his feet while removing his hand from her shoulder.

His other hand slipped down her forearm to lightly grip her hand, his free hand drawing the knife from his belt. He then glanced around before eyeing the blanket, then looking at Arina. "Arina, I want you to keep the blanket on yourself ok? It'll sound odd, but it'll help keep you cooler when we have to move out in the sunlight. As exposed as your skin is...not to mention its color might help hide us if we need to. Ok? When you are ready, we can move."

"Alten..." Arina's voice was shaking as she watched him. How could he not be angry with her? He was so... Different. Definitely stronger than she was and his courage and comforting tones were helping to get her mind out of darkness. Slowly she nodded in agreement for saving her apologies for later. After all, she was going to owe the Major and Commodore a formal apology as well.

Her fingers ended up in his hand as he stood and continued talking to her, "Yes... I think I'm okay to go," she answered and reached behind her to grab the blanket they'd used to survive through the night. Throwing it over her shoulder with one hand, she tightened her grip in Alten's palm as she started pulling herself up to stand. Though it hurt to get up, once she was standing it was much easier than she'd anticipated.

With a short nod toward him, she turned to face the doorway, "Ready," she offered. She had no idea where they were located at in the city as her attention the day before had been on staying up on her feet. Arina was going to rely on Atlen once more to get them out of the city and back to the Stellae Caelator.

When she said she was set to go, Alten turned and slowly walked to the door, pushing it open and peeking out into the hallway and looking down both ends. Both were empty, and things were quiet at the moment, which Alten was happy to know. "Let's go." he said quietly before he began moving down the hallway in the same direction Vasile and his compatriot had gone.

Alten felt his heart beating rapidly as they moved, it felt like his entire head throbbing as he moved. He was tense and ready for anything as they walked down the decrepit and sandy hallways, looking to the walls which were scuffed and marked from animals and sand blowing through it. Right now, he was just hoping they would not run into anything to terrible as they moved through.

Several minutes of quiet walking brought them to an exit to the building they were occupying, the door lying mostly buried by the sand outside, having fallen from its place after all these years. Alten carefully peeked outside, squinting his eyes to try and shield his eyes as the sand blew on by from the wind having kicked up. He had no idea where they were at this point, as he didn't no Ko'val's streets in the slightest, and so the street they were on looked like just any other. It wasn't helped by the fact that many of the buildings looked identical, being simply structures meant to be easily assembled and moved about by newly arriving colonists. Individualism was a thing reserved for once things were established, so the buildings were not designed to stand-out from each other.

"Ok...we need to get to high ground, try and figure out just where we are. Ok, Arina?" he asked without looking back to her.

Arina followed after him as best she could. Thankfully her feet had gone numb and it didn't hurt to walk as it did the day before. She surprised herself by keeping pace with Alten that time around. Maybe it was because of what he'd told her the day before. About the fact that no matter how hard it go, he kept going. Maybe she could to.

As they stopped by a broken doorway, the sunlight filtering inside blinded her. Wind whistled by as it kicked up bouts of dust and sand, throwing it everywhere as Alten peered outside to see if there was anything out there, and probably to try to figure out where they were. Arina looked as well, though she really didn't know what she was going to be looking for.

Alten's suggestion of getting to higher ground had her nodding her head. Getting up onto a building would be the easiest way to figure out where they were and where they needed to go. Not to mention if the Major and his team of Knights were anywhere around, Alten and Arina could spot them. If the mecha's were out as well, that would make it even easier. Looking around, Arina's gaze was drawn to one of the buildings that looked a little more intact than most, but just barely.

"That one," she offered, pointing to it over his shoulder, "Maybe there will be a staircase," she said, trying to sound somewhat hopeful.

Alten glanced to her hand, then to where it was pointing, nodding his head. "Looks good to me, let's move." he said, though as he uttered the statement, the screech of a jet flying over his head cause him to recoil and duck down. He coughed as sand was kicked up, and a moment later he heard the sound of explosions followed closely by fierce exchange of gunfire. He looked in the direction of the noise, eyes widening as he watched two mechas that clearly had neither Naval, Marine, nor Knight markings on them come marching onto the street. Alten and Arina were spared only by the grace that the mechas were moving towards the sounds of combat, which had them facing away from the two.

"Let's move quickly!" Alten said and began jogging towards the building Arina had pointed out. He made sure that Arina was still with him and was able to keep up. If things were about to get hairy, then he needed to make sure not to lose her.

He quickly moved up next to the building, pressing himself against it as if hiding, which in a way he was. He then looked down the wall they were on, looking to see if there was a doorway for them to use. He flinched some when another explosion went off elsewhere, though thankfully it was still a ways from them.

Arina dropped and covered her ears at the sound of the jet as it shot past. The loud sound of the engine making her chest vibrate and her ears ring terribly. Once it passed, she chanced a glance up and watched as Alten's gaze was locked on something down the street from them. Standing, Arina peered out as well and took a sharp breath as she eyed the two mechas that were heading after where the jet had gone.

Her breathing was short and rapid as she watched. It wasn't until Alten's urging of them going quickly that she turned away from the two mechas. Following after him as quickly as she could, they reached the building she'd pointed to and she pressed herself against the wall next to him, panting and shaking slightly.

It was most likely the attack the Major had said he would initiate. If so, then they had a chance of being spotted by the Knights and getting off of Ko'val in once piece. At least that was her hope and it was that hope that made her edgy and wanting to rush up the stairs of the building to the rooftop.

If there were any stairs at all.

"Hurry, Alten," she said, her fingers curling into his hand tightly, "The Major..."

"Yeah..." Alten said before he began circling around the building, smiling when he spotted a doorway for them to enter through. He moved up to the doorway, knife in hand and flicking the switch on before he slowly peeked inside the room. His eyes narrowed some in confusion when looking in he saw the corpses of two pirates, both of them having been badly mauled. He slowly poked his head in more, trying to make sure Arina and himself would not be ambushed bu the same thing that had attacked these two.

He didn't see anything other than the fresh pools of blood from the corpses that told him they had only been killed at most a few minutes ago. Looking back at Arina, he said to her "Wait here a moment." Before he turned to look back inside. He hesitated for a moment before slowly letting go of her hand and sliding his way into the room as quietly as he could, knife ready to strike at anything that jumped out at him. As he moved in, he could see the room was even more empty than the one he and the Admiral had slept in last night, clearly having been picked clean by the pirates long before.

Slipping inside, he looked over the bodies of the two pirates, and his heart jumped with excitement when he noticed an assault rifles that had fallen from the hands of both pirates. Looking around once more, he slowly crept over to one of the rifles and picked up and began checking it over. It was a model he wasn't use to, but at least the mechanics were similar enough to ones he'd used before. He gave it a quick look over, seeing that the rifle was still well intact, ejecting the magazine enough to see if it was still loaded, and then he slapped the magazine back into place and quickly slid the bolt back and let it snap back forwards. A bullet was ejected as he pulled the bolt back, clattering to the ground before he slid over to check the other discarded rifle.

As he did so, he glanced back up and around, just to remain aware of his surroundings before he went back to taking what ammunition he could find on the dead pirates. Three extra magazines for him to make use of, all three fully loaded. In his search of the area, he smiled as well when he noticed a staircase leading up to the second floor of the building. "Arina." He called softly, moving over to poke his head out of the doorway, looking at her. "I found some stairs for us."

As Alten peered into the building, Arina kept looking around them to make sure nothing came out of the alleys at them. The sounds of explosions and heavy gunfire were filling the air and her heart pounded hard at each loud boom. She hardly heard Alten's words as he told her to wait there. His hand slipped from hers and she looked back at him startled before edging towards the doorway and peeking inside.

Her hand immediately came up and covered her mouth at the sight of the two dead pirates. Turning around, she flattened her back against the wall next to the door so as not to see that awful sight any longer. Her stomach churned and she thought she was going to be sick. It took all she had to settle her body and not throw up into the sands.

As Alten worked inside, she kept her hand over her mouth and her eyes on the sands beneath her feet. Every so often she would glance around to see if anyone was nearby or had spotted them. So far it seemed the fighting was far off in the distance. Silently Arina hoped that it would stay that way.

Alten's voice startled her and she jumped slightly as he peeked out at her. Nodding her head in agreement, she moved to follow after him up the stairwell and did her best to keep from looking at the mangled bodies of the two pirates. She also took note that Alten had armed himself with a rifle as well. Arina hoped they wouldn't have to use it, but she was mostly glad that he hadn't handed anything of the sort to her for use. She was more than certain she wouldn't be able to do it.

"Do you... Have a plan on how you'll get the Major's attention?" she asked softly, distracting herself from both the weapon and her memory of the dead pirate that she'd slain the day before.

As he moved up the stairs, keeping the rifle up and ready for any possible attackers, he listened to Arina ask him a question he'd been wondering. How the hell would they get the Major's or anybody's attention? They didn't have any flares, no signal mirrors, they could possibly use the blanket as a flag of sorts. "Well," he began, "if we can find something to tie the blanket to we might be able to use it as a flag. I know i mentioned it blending in to the surroundings and all, but if we wave it around enough, somebody is bound to notice it."

As he made it to the stop of the stairs, he stopped for a moment to scan the area, noting that it led to a long hallway with three different doorway. There was one at the end that Alten could tell led back outside, the other two led to separate rooms. "Though we may wish to hold off on drawing any attention until we know the Knights are close by...less we get pirates."

He slowly began to inch down the hallway, keeping the weapon sights trained down it as he moved. As he made it to one of the doors, he slowly crept towards it, standing at the far wall away from it as he did so. As he reached it, he rounded the door frame to look inside with his gun ready. As he moved in, he was met with the sight of another dead pirate, currently being chewed upon by the drake Alten figured was responsible for the ones on the floor below. It turned to look at him as he moved in, hissing and quickly moving to strike the new intruder of its territory.

Alten immediately back-petaled out the door, holding down the trigger of the rifle as he did so. The gun began to discharge its payload rapidly into the approaching beast, which screeched as the rifle rounds tore through its hide. Alten quickly moved to the side to get out of its way, moving so his back ended up facing the exit Arina and him were aiming for as he fired another quick burst into it. A moment later, it let out another screech before it collapsed to the ground, dead.

As it fell, Alten sighed in relief, lowering the rifle and looking over its body to look towards Arina. "Arina! Are you al-" his sentence was interrupted when he was suddenly tackled from behind, slamming hard into the metal floor as he lost his grip on the rifle. He shouted in pain, his glasses also flying off his face as he struggled to turn onto his back to deal with the second drake that had snuck up on him. He blindly reached up, grabbing hold of something that he quickly recognized as its snout. It shifted, and then Alten screamed in pain as he felt the drake sink its teeth into the hand on its head, gripping and trying to tear the limb from its prey beneath it.

Alten frantically tried to grab hold of the knife he had placed on his belt when he had picked up the rifle, trying to grab the weapon to fight off the creature. Though in his panicked state he was having a hard time getting a grip on it as the creature continued to thrash with his hand in its mouth, drawing more shouts of pain from the surveyor.

Arina followed after him, her fingers clutching the blanket tightly so that they wouldn't lose it as he planned to use it to attract the attention of the Knights and the Major if they could. She supposed if that failed, using his jacket would work out and she could wrap up in the blanket instead. Whatever they used, she just hoped it would get them noticed by the right people.

As he went down the hallway, Arina right behind him, she kept glancing around. So far there was nothing there, at least until he tried to enter the room at the end of the hall. Arina let out a cry of fear as the sound of gunfire filled the room. Her knees gave out and she dropped, covering her head as she curled against the wall. The drake that Alten had been shooting at came barreling out of the room, snarling and screeching loudly. The sounds of the creatures screams mixed with Arina's.

When it was over, she heard Alten call out for her and looked up just in time to see a second drake take him to the floor. Her eyes grew wide as she watched the creature tumble on top of Alten. The gun slid across the floor as did his glasses. With her heart in her throat, Arina stared for a long while as Alten struggled. When his scream of pain hit the air, her heart nearly tore apart.

The sight of blood made it even worse, especially since it was Alten who was bleeding. Scrambling across the floor on her hands and knees, her fingers curled around the weapon that he'd lost. Shaking horribly she wasn't even sure she dared fire the thing in Alten's direction for fear of hurting him rather than the drake. Even so, if she stayed still and did nothing, he would be torn apart.

Turning the weapon around so she was holding it the right way, her finger trembled against the trigger. The sounds of Alten's cries of pain were what made her pull the trigger. The weapon recoiled in her hand and startled her, sending bullets up and into the wall and ceiling. Letting go of the trigger, she reset herself and fired again, this time fully prepared for the weapons discharge.

She kept the trigger down as she aimed it at the drake as best she could. The weapon continued firing until there was nothing but the sound of rapid clicking, even then her finger never left the trigger as she stared at the drake in the hopes that she'd killed the thing.

Alten wasn't even sure what happened when he heard the spray of gunfire, he didn't even notice the drake being torn up by the bullets from the rifle as he was far to preoccupied with the searing pain in his hand. The drake let go of his hand as it screeched, turning and fleeing from the room and leaving behind it a trail of its own blood. Alten managed to get a hold of his knife, but he let it go immediately as he sat up and cradled his hand against his own body.

"F-fuck..." he chocked out, his breathing wavering and shaking as he sat there, blood beginning to cover his shirt. He tried to look at his hand, but due to the lack of glasses, he couldn't see the mangled mess that had been his hand. Regardless, he could feel the immense pain that was pulsing from the limb. "A-Arina...Arina..." he forced himself to say, falling against the wall as he pulled the hand back against himself, his injured arm shaking rapidly as sat there.

Her finger fell off the trigger as he called for her. The weapon fell out of her hands and she moved to gather up his glasses and then crawl over to him. Trying her best not to look at his hand that was nothing but a bloody mess, she placed his glasses over his eyes again, knowing that he couldn't do it himself, at least not with his hand the way it was.

"Alten..." she breathed his name in slight relief though fear still plagued her. Glancing down at his hand, she took in a sharp breath, "W-what should I do?"

He felt his glasses be slipped back over his eyes, opening them now to look down at his hand that was still held against his body. His eyes when wide as he looked at it, and he was at a loss for words. It was Arina asking him what to do that stopped him from going into shock. Taking in a sharp breath, he let it out in staggered gasps before glancing around. His eyes settled on the jacket that still hung on her frame, and he nodded his head to it.

"T-the...jacket!" he forced out, "Wrap around m-my..hand. Quickly." He closed his eyes, groaning as another volley of pain shot through his arm, causing him to curl over the wound for a moment before his head fell back again. "Tie it....tightly. Gotta stop...the bleeding." He said while looking back down towards his hand.

"A-alright! Alright, I can do that," she said, mostly to reassure herself than anything. Dropping the blanket she took the jacket off and set to work using the entire thing as a bandage. Arina made sure to leave the sleeves out so that she could use them to tie it all down once she'd sufficiently wrapped up his hand.

All the while she tried to ignore how messy it looked, as well as the amount of blood that poured from his wound. Even her own fingers became slick with the warm substance. Her heart picked up as he groaned in pain. She worked as quickly as possible, yet tried to cover the entire hand tightly with the jacket.

Once she'd done the best that she could with it, she took the sleeves and did the final wrappings before tying it down as tightly as she dared on his hand, grinding her teeth as she did so. When she was finished, her fingers were red and shaking. Falling back on her knees, she took several deep breathes as she took a quick look around the hallway before setting her gaze back on Alten.

"W-will that be alright? Can you keep going?" she asked, fearful of the answer. If she had to go alone... Arina shook her head. She would do it. She would have to do it. If not for herself then definitely for Alten's sake at the very least.

As she tightened it around his hand, Alten let out a sharp cry of pain, though he didn't stop her otherwise. It had to be tight, to try and stem the bleeding as much as possible. Once she finished, asking him if he could continue, he nodded his head. "Y-yeah...I can." He said while using his free hand to brace himself against the wall as he slowly rose to his feet. Leaning against it to take a moment to catch his breath, he then looked towards the exit.

"Grab the rifle and knife...we may need them still, Arina." he managed to say between pained breaths. He then began walking down the hallway, keeping the injured left hand cradled against his body as he moved along. He had to keep moving, he couldn't stop just because of an injury. He wasn't dead, so he had no reason to stop yet.

As he made it to the doorway to outside, he leaned against the frame to catch his breath again, or rather to refocus his attention to try and shut out the pain. He listened to the fighting in the distance, glancing in the direction wondering who was winning. It was hard to tell for him at the moment if it was moving in their direction or not, he just hoped that somebody would notice them quickly.

Arina did as she was asked, grabbing both the knife and rifle, though she was fairly sure the rifle was empty and she didn't know how to replace a clip. Or rather, she did, but she couldn't recall how to do it exactly at that moment. So she just settled for taking the weapon and deciding to use it as a club should another drake pop up.

She didn't even want to think about what would happen if a pirate or even Grimfist found them. With how they both were, she doubted they'd survive in a fight against them. They finally ended up outside of the building, up on the room and she walked out to look around. The resounding booms of explosions in the distance, coupled with pillars of smoke rising up into the air showed her where the fighting was at.

Clutching the blanket in her hands, she hoped to God that whomever flew by next or had a mecha in the vicinity would be either the Knights or the Navy. In addition to that, she hoped as well that they would see her and Alten. Arina was at her limits as she stood there, staring out into the destroyed city. She wanted off the planet, and back at the vessel where she could heal as well as get Alten patched up from the drake biting him.

Looking around the top of the building, she spotted a couple of metal bars lying off to the side and went to pick one up, wincing as she walked across the hot concrete with her bare feet. Wrapping the blanket around one of the bars, she tied the corners to it in a makeshift flag and went back to stand next to Alten where the shade of the doorway helped keep the scorching heat off her feet. Standing the flag up, she held it there and did what she could to move it from side to side.

Please... Someone see us... she begged.

Snippet #2564059

located in Ko'val, a part of Within the Veil, one of the many universes on RPG.

Setting

Characters Present

Footnotes