BB was helping the doctor with the more severe injuries, while every other pair of hands was occupied with the lesser ones. Mel was bandaging the arm of a woman while Ro was compressing a puncture wound on a one of the soldiers until the doctor or BB could get their hands free to tend to him.

	The Protector looked about the chaos surrounding them. It came close to what they had witnessed during the war with the Nomad. People running hysterically for their lives, chased by a force so overwhelming, survival on all cost became paramount. The Protector flashed back on what had transpired just a few short minutes ago.

	They had enacted their plan to stow away the wounded civilians within the ship and lift off to allow for the riot to subside. Vokeera, together with the remainder of the soldiers had formed a line and were holding the pushing crowds from swarming the ramp and entering the ship. They were managing fine. Even at the cost of some bruises here and there. A fist in the face. An elbow in the ribs. But the line was holding. And just when they were about to close the ship's loading bay doors, all hell had broken loose.

	The mob suddenly swayed and rushed the line like a river powered by the sudden influx of melting glacial waters. Vokeera'd managed to keep upright, though some of the soldiers had fallen on the ground and were being crushed under the stampede of the crowd. Ro pushed people about, helping the fallen soldiers on their feet, before they could be more severely injured and then turned around to see what had spooked the mob so much so that it had rushed their line with an intensity it lacked before. If it wasn't food they were after, that left only one other choice. Primal fear!

	The things she glimpsed chasing the humans were like nothing Vok had ever seen and still, somehow, on some level, familiar.

	"Oh my god! What are those things!?" Mel whispered somewhere behind her. She was pushing people about as well. Since the stream of people now running for their lives could no longer be stopped, they tried their best to direct the flow in a more efficient way, uprighting people when they got knocked on the ground, helping those who were slower on their feet.

	Ro spotted a nurse or a doctor carrying a child that were about to be overtaken by those things and she rushed forward without even thinking.

	"Ro...!" Melissa yelled alarmed and sprinted after the Noxaara.

	The Protector had already reached the woman and the child and took a stance between them and the unknown entities.

	"Get them inside the ship." She yelled for Mel, not doubting she would be right on her heals to help.

	Melissa took the kid from the nurse and watched in horror as one of those things attacked Ro with what seemed like a blade. She didn't have time to stay and watch however. She needed to trust her friend and so she ran with the child in her arms towards the ship. "Hurry!" She yelled for the woman beside her.

	"Your friend...?" The woman asked, running at full tilt next to Melissa.

	"... is a professional!" Melissa assured, but internally prayed. [i]Please, be safe, you valiant fool![/i]

	She was depositing the child on the floor of the ship's loading bay when something rushed her and the doors of the ship began closing slowly. She turned to yell for them to wait, because Vokeera was still out there when she saw what had rushed her.

	Ro was splayed on the ground. Breathing heavily, the SEEM covered in deep gouges that thankfully didn't seem to [i]bleed[/i].

	"Ro!" She yelled horrified as the ship began to rise from the ground. She kneeled beside the Protector and placed her hand gently on one of the deeper gouges. "Damn it! I told you not take stupid risks."

	"I'm fine." The Noxaara assured her, placing a calming hand on Mel's. "And it wasn't a stupid risk. It was well calculated. I knew the SEEM could handle a couple of slashing wounds."

	Melissa just squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Her hand balled into a fist on Vokeera's abdomen. This time Ro was almost sure about the emotion behind Mel's tightly shut eyes. The trembling fist on her abdomen, the gentle shaking of Mel's shoulders. Vokeera'd seen Melissa like this only when she would show her grief for her fallen partner.

	"Are you sure you don't need those looked over?" Mel's voice brought Vokeera to the present.

	"I'm fine." Assured the Noxaara. "See..." Vokeera extended an arm to demonstrate how one of the shallower cuts was already starting to close.

	Ro looked around the ship's cargo bay and noticed the woman she'd helped approaching the doctor.

	"What [i]were[/i] those things!?!" Mel asked, scooting over to Ro, drawing the Noxaara's attention to her.

	"I don't know." Ro answered bewildered, looking at Mel. "They seemed vaguely..."

	"Familiar!" Melissa and Ro finished simultaneously.