[h2][color=40E0D0]Collie Craster[/color][/h2]
[i]The Long Watch III[/i]
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[color=40E0D0]"Quite the misfortune for us, wouldn't you say?"[/color] Collie said in reply to Yvette's comment about the Tellosians. She was speaking in general as all of herself and her allies were heavily outgunned at the moment, but she was really thinking about herself. About one more year of service, and she would have been honorably discharged and allowed to continue on with her life. Granted, nothing was ever going to be the same after the military, but at least people won't be shooting her anymore...

The moment fire erupted, Collie dropped low to make herself harder to hit. She was at greater risk than her companions due to her EHCS being lightly armored with nothing more than ballistic fibers and a few pieces of metal plate. Sure, Collie had a thin shield layer that provided some protection but those things were always unreliable at best. Nonetheless, Collie kept up with Yvette as she continued her progress only stopping to occasionally spray fire in a direction. There wasn't much rhyme or reason to her shooting, it was just something that was an instinct. She wasn't there to kill but to save, although she has done both.

Collie must have been preoccupied as Yvette entered a scrap when she was ambushed by a few Tellosian. She was lucky to get out of that fine, save for some apparent psychological distress. Collie was grateful that the Staff Sergeant ended up putting a stop to that. Speaking of which, the man seemed to have gotten out of that crash unscathed. Lucky him. Judging by the man's isolation from the other reinforcements, Collie could presume that most were dead or dying. Unlucky them. [color=40E0D0]"With you, seven."[/color] Collie chimed in to answer the man's question. [color=40E0D0]"Anyone else survive that crash? And what about yourself? Feeling alright?"[/color] She'd wait only a moment for the man to answer before turning and heading back to the bunker as the man could clearly walk and fight.

She managed to make it only about a hundred yards before a sudden eruption on the comms alerted her to the status back the bunker. Screams of agony screeched into her earpiece. Since they had such a small outfit here and Collie was rather experienced in the matter, she picked up on it being Cal's screams. He only screamed for a moment before subsiding, likely passing out from whatever happened to him. He probably wasn't dead as men on death's door sit in a quiet, tragic disbelief. Regardless, she had to hightail it back to the bunker. [color=40E0D0]"Cal? ... Cal?"[/color] Collie called out into her allied airwave in between breaths but found no response. [color=40E0D0]".. Anyone near Cal .. that can tell me what happened?"[/color]

Collie sounded remarkable calm and collected despite everything going on, but that's the result of being a battle-tested veteran for a few years. She couldn't afford to panic during this time as someone's life always depended upon her. She wasn't immune to it, though. There were many sleepless nights, horrifying memories, and a constant fear of death. She can understand it so when Kane's frantic cries came over the comms and she pretty much agreed with his frustration. She wanted to curse the world out for this shitty luck but she didn't have the luxury of that so she always kept her head straight. No matter the cost later.