[center][h1][color=6ecff6]E L I[/color][/h1][img]http://66.media.tumblr.com/51fc61ac770a524e9468f174afa94d7f/tumblr_inline_n1xc79Kcic1rb3m8r.png[/img][/center]
[b][center]Personal Quarters, New Anchorage CC
[color=gray][[ Around 0200 Hours (2:00 AM) ]][/color] 
[/center][/b]

Eli held the bunk with a deathly grip, stiff and only just suppressing the shudders crawling their way up her arm. She couldn’t pry her eyes away from the empty cot, the thrown off covers, the dent in the pillow where the girl’s head must have been only a short time ago. 

Then she began to hear the gunshots again, only this time they were harsher. Every single one felt as though it were fired off by her ear, cracking against the wall near her head, she felt death hanging off of every moment, every half moment, every fraction of every rapid panicked blink. Only it wasn’t hers. 

Vera is gone.

[i][color=6ecff6]Vera is [b]gone[/b].[/color][/i]

It took every last miniscule bit of self control for her not to rush immediately out of the barracks, and even then she might have gone anyway, had she not spotted the empty bunk below Vera’s. The empty bunk that ought not have been empty. 

[color=6ecff6]It’s Styles’.[/color] 

The thought was hardly conscious, but registered in full all the same. Vera shared her bunk with the former Red Star pilot, something Eli was not particularly happy about. She’d seen Red Star, she’d fought Red Star, she’d killed Red Star. As far as she was concerned Tahlia had been on thin strings from the get go. 

It’s a coincidence.

[i][color=6ecff6]No.[/color][/i]

She looked around the barracks again, as if the last vestiges of reason were hoping to find Tahlia standing there with the group, ready to go out and defend New Anchorage. Then just as quickly she felt a horrid wave of guilt, the realization that she hadn’t hoped see Vera first was one she was quick to deny as stress-induced. That didn’t stop the anger from rising though, nor did she hesitate to direct that anger at the absent Tahlia. 

[i][color=6ecff6]She took Vera. She betrayed New Anchorage.[/color][/i]

[i][color=crimson]Traitor.[/color][/i]

Eli dropped down, cold, deft. Her hands were steady, her thoughts collected, every trace of panic and terror vanished, or at least suppressed. The knife was clutched so tight it might have been a part of her hand, which was for the better, being her only weapon. If Tahlia was still in the base, she’d likely be armed, and she might have Vera with her along with however many invaders there still were. It could be a fickle task. 

[i][color=6ecff6]You have help.[/color][/i]

[i][color=crimson]You have distractions.[/color][/i]

Shaking that thought off was tougher. The others, even if they might not shoot her in the back, likely wouldn’t support her if she outright planned offensively. They’d doubt her, or worse they’d trust Tahlia, and from there things would only go from worse to catastrophic. 

So, rearing up near Stein she decided to keep her worries vague. [color=6ecff6]“Vera’s gone, so is Tahlia.”[/color]