[i]"Sorr..y Miss, Richard..I don't think...that was the case..."[/i]

Cecilia's radio crackled as Sarah sputtered through her mic. All the enthusiasm she had just prior was absent from her voice, and her words were accompanied by a gurgling that raised the hairs on Cecilia's neck. 

"Sarah? Sarah!!" 

[i]Dammit, why didn't she say something? And she was dead-set to go charging in by herself in this state...[/i]

Cecilia sped to where she'd left Sarah's machine and popped her hatch. She fumbled through her cockpit for the emergency kit, prying it from its hinge, and slid down the exit cable. She caught a glimpse of the wounded Panther, propped against the wall across from her FRAME. A gasp escaped Cecilia's lips when she saw the ichor pooling around Sarah's body. 

"Someone, get down here!" she barked into her headset. "Sarah's in bad shape! Stay with me, Sarah, alright?"

There was a hunk of metal embedded in the girl's side, evidently a piece of her machine that caved in when it had been hit. Cecilia opened up the metal box, scattering some of its contents in her haste, searching for something, anything, to help her subordinate. She grabbed a silver can and shook it before pressing the nozzle to Sarah's wound. As she depressed the cap, white biofoam hissed from the tip. The biofoam was a temporary sealant, meant to stop blood loss until the wound could be properly treated. Removing the metal now would be disastrous. 

"Sarah, look at me. You're going to be alright, okay?" 

Cecilia's voice was shaky as she tried to hold Sarah's attention. Next, she slid a needle through her arm - a shot of pain suppressants for good measure. Then, she grabbed a pair of plastic sacks, one red, one yellow. Sarah needed blood and plasma transfusions to replace what she'd lost, and quickly. 

"Richard, we need medical here, now. This field kit isn't going to cut it for long."

"I've made the call. Our people are on the way."

True to his word, an emergency-response vehicle from the [i]Samigina[/i] arrived on the scene moments after. The staff hurried over to Sarah, releasing a stretcher and more professional equipment from the back of the vehicle. Cecilia stepped aside as they relieved her from playing doctor, all too glad to let them handle the business.

Richard came running from the steps of Cradle, Amelia not far behind. Both looked ragged from today's ordeal.

"Get her to the [i]Samigina[/i]'s medical bay. Is Ryder hurt? She took some bad hits of her own."

"Not as far as I know," Cecilia replied.

She was interrupted by the sound of a thunderous blast a few streets down, as the timer of the Barghests reached zero. A brief flash of orange was followed by a cascade of smoke that slithered from the detonated FRAMEs.

"What the hell?!"

And then Cecilia remembered Bernard had snatched one.

"BERN? BERN?!"