Lacrimosa

[Milivikal k'Vik]

k'Vik looked up at Eluna from her knees. Her chest heaved. Her eyes were distant, and she looked even more pale. Milivikal puffed. She had never done that before. Dimly, she could feel her hand hurt. She attempted to stand and shake her head, but instead fell onto all fours.

She could smell iron and sweat.

"No." she finally replied, and wiped the trickle of blood off her upper lip.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The force of the Imperials attack drove her back, and s'Il held her own in resolute fashion as both her sabre blades and the baton eased themselves closer toward her face. This thing! Up close its' scent was almost overpowering, like some disease that crept up and overtook without mercy.

Pressed back, the Lupine heard the reports of Byl's blaster. There was no use calling for him to stop, and she steeled herself. Her muscles strained with the exertion of pushing the Imperial abomination straight back into the oncoming blaster fire.

Two of the bolts struck the thing, but the last shot found its' way beneath the attacker's arm to leave an ugly black furrow along her shoulder. s'Il gave a hiss and pivoted, her stance sliding her sideways and bringing the two combatants around and allowing her the opening to now roughly drive the thing into the very crates that she had been previously pushed into.

A growl, and she held the baton at bay as her forearm pressed steadily into the Imperial's neck in an attempt to dprive its' lungs of oxygen.

[Karl Valten]

Acrid smoke defiled the air, trailing from the wounds burned into the seekers back and the jedi’s shoulder. With positions reversed, the cyborg found itself straining against the bone being driven into its throat. It forced against s’Il’s lightsabers with the baton, but the blaster shots to the back had severely damaged its servos.

Both blood and hydraulics were begging to ooze out of the skin. But the thing still fought on. Its free hand gripped at the jedi’s bicep and razor claws began digging into the skin. The head pressed forward despite the choking arm.

A tear sound overshadowed the crackling weapons for a second as a pair of metallic pincers unfolded from the sides of the jaw. The bladed mandible snapped together more than uncomfortably close to s’Il’s face.

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna's quick appraisal over Mili's condition was that she could move, but needed medical attention. In other words, not the best idea to keep her in a war zone.

"I'll carry you."

She stooped down, and with gentle poise complementing her competent strength, she hoisted Mili across her shoulder blades in a fireman's carry, and started for the best exit point that would keep the Jedi safe from blaster fire or whatever else.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her arm bled now, punctured by the claws of the Imperial assassin, but she continued to press into it. Whatever it was, she was determined to end its' life.

The growl in the back of her throat was cut off suddenly, as s'Il rocked her head back; the sight of such unnatural additions to the body of this thing was more than disturbing, and the Lupine pivoted to the side slightly while pulling free her sabres.

In a kneejerk reaction, s'Il smashed the gauntlet across the side of his face.

[Milivikal k'Vik]

"nhhffmf." Mili sounded as some air squished from her lungs. Eluna's gait was surprisingly steady. Below, she could detect the sounds of combat. Loklorien should be more than capable of handling herself against those things. But the fact of the matter was that they would need to find another location as soon as possible.

Milivikal was angry at herself for being caught in the moment and overextending her body. Now, she watched the floor of the catwalk from Eluna's shoulder. She gave Eluna's bottom an appreciative pat before going limp to conserve her energy.

[Byl Laprovik]

Fair game to the Jedi, she'd convinced this poor idiot that she was the only credible threat to him, and paid Byl no mind.

Byl, for his part, steadied up his aim, intending to fire from cover with a more accurate shot. In an instant, one presented itself which did not put s'Ilancy into the line of fire, and his blaster barked out a bolt that, with any luck, would sear into the base of the assailant's skull.

[Karl Valten]

Intent on tearing the jedi’s face off with its nightmarish contraptions, the seeker was not prepared for gauntlet to swing about. It hit the Imperial construct hard and the creature stumbled to the side. While the instinctive attack caused little harm to the seeker, it was now well in the clear for a precise shot.

The blaster bolt sailed nearly true, burning through the thing’s throat from the side and pitching it to the floor. With a thud the body landed against a stack of crates. Instead of blood sparks flew from the wound and the warehouse was assailed with the frantic clicks and whirs as the seeker attempt to continue the fight; the mechanical components struggling on while the flesh slowly started dying.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

For only a split second the Lupine glared down at her felled enemy, lips curling back in an inaudible snarl. She kicked the stun baton away with little effort, her eye taking in the throes of the thing's biological remnants. It was easy to see that the mechanical aspects of the creature were willing it onward, but the flesh was simply too weak.

She straightened her back, her breathing becoming less labored as her arms fell to her sides.

And then a boot came up to plant itself on the Imperial assassin's chest, and taking a knee, the Lupine drove the twin orange blades clean through the mechanical monster's head.

[Milivikal k'Vik]

Milivikal's blood was now more head-heavy than usual, giving her skin a red flush.

"We are to run run run now, Eluna?" She asked. Mili could hear Loklorien finish her adversary. "Compromised, would be Byl's word, no? Compromised. Language, Basic. To expose or make liable to danger, suspicion, or disrepute. Danger. They know where we are." She rambled before falling silent for a minute.

"What were those wretched things?" She asked, finally finding a moment of clairity. She sneezed a fine mixture of thin mucus and blood.

"Oh nose, I wish that you did not bleed with such ease."

[Eluna Thals]

"Try not to speak." Eluna spoke in a neutral tone to her ward.

"You're injured, and I need to find the extent."

The droid bounded down a walkway and kicked a metal door off its hinges, running inside. Like Mili, she knew from the sound that enemy contact was over. They needed to group up again.

"We'll be leaving soon, don't worry."

By now, cleaners would be arriving, both to arrange for uncompromised transport as well as to purge any evidence they'd rather not have around. Eluna knew their response time was fast.

She reached the group, skidding to a halt a she gently eased Mili to the ground.

"Tell me where you feel pain." Eluna dropped to her haunches, staring at the brunette while she herself still bled slightly.

[Byl Laprovik]

Byl's look was intense and disapproving. His jawline tightened as he holstered his pistol, and he paced about as Eluna attended to Mili.

"If she can move, we need to get out."

His words were carefully measured behind his quiet intensity, and he looked past each of them, trying to think three moves ahead. His eyes rested on s'Ilancy and her kill, and then returned to covering the exits.

[Milivikal k'Vik]

Mili rubbed her nose.

"I am not injured." She grumbled. "My blood runs easily. Make a metal skull soft as downy feathers, and mmmm?" She mumbled, and looked at Eluna through tired eyes. "Too caught in the moment, she rode the wave of motion to it's end, with none left to..."

"You are hurt." Mili said, concerned.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She allowed herself a precious few seconds to kneel over the dead Imperial creature, and with a careful touch she traced a finger over the metal extensions coming from the thing's jaw. The fusion of flesh and mechanics was in many ways abhorrent to the Lupine, and in distaste she pulled her hand away, rising to her feet.

Eye going first to Karrnage, then to the rest of those in the hangar, s'Il squared her shoulders back while allowing a long breath to escape her lungs. The grazing blaster bolt she'd taken had by now become a dull throb, and she knew that soon enough it would fade away to an annoying ache before disappearing altogether.

Putting distance between herself and the Imperial attacker, she made her way to where Karrnage still stood beside the speeder she'd left him at. Absently she reached over to pick at the wound, flicking away dried blood.

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna smiled at Mili's concern, wiping at her own blood as if realizing that she had indeed been injured.

"I will be okay." She said with some reassurance to the eccentric Jedi woman. The smile remained, as she seemed to genuinely care about her condition.