[color=gray]The mission started off as bad as it could get, Fireteam Spitfire's Pelican lost its altitude after receiving anti-air fire, and crashed somewhere deep in the forest. Sergeant Kellie was killed on impact, and the landing itself drew the attention of a squad of Kig-Yar and Unggoy. One firefight later, and Fireteam Spitfire was down to half its number. Lillian pulled Edwin along with her, since he was in a state of shock, completely unresponsive. This was his first anything; First mission, first firefight, first time witnessing people die. It was all so new to him.

Lillian ran through the trees with her hand firmly locked around her brother's wrist, pulling him so hard his entire arm was almost out of its socket. She ducked and weaved under and around branches and undergrowth, forcing her brother to follow her to the best of his abilities. She continued pulling him along for another thirty minutes, before she stopped by a tree, and caught her breath. Edwin heaved whatever little food he had eaten all over the ground some metres away from Lillian. She couldn't help but smile, despite her other two friends' deaths. [color=white]"Nothing like a good days exercise huh?"[/color] She joked, trying to lift Edwin's mood, though to little avail. He stared aimlessly at the contents of his stomach, unknowing how to react. Lillian rubbed her eyes, and shook herself out of her fatigue. She needed to be strong for her brother, if nothing else. She quietly removed one of her ration packs from her supply pouch, and gently pulled Edwin away from the slowly building pool for him to sit next to a tree. She smiled at him, which usually lifted his spirits, however today seemed to be the exception, with good reason. She sighed, and forced him to eat the horrid tasting ration-pack, which he did without complaint.

And then her already shaken world crumbled. Alarmed sounding growls and clicks sounded out from some nearby trees, and from behind them, four fierce-looking Kig-Yar emerged, teeth bared and claws outstretched. For a moment, she wondered why they hadn't drawn their weapons, then she saw they carried none. Perhaps they ran out of ammo? She could only hope. In the short period of time it took her to draw her sidearm and raise it to fire at the lightly-armoured foes, one had already sprang at her. She was taken completely by surprise, though she still managed to bring up her forearm to stop the bite that would have tore out her throat, only to have the alien's razor-sharp teeth dig into her uniform, and in turn, her flesh. She screamed in pain, and for a moment, the alien felt a shrill of fear as she placed the barrel of her M6 to its forehead and fired. Purple ichor covered her arm and leg, and the dead alien's grip on her arm slacked, then released itself. As she brought up her sidearm to remove the other three aliens, her heart skipped a beat, and then two. Between the aliens, was the screaming and crying form of her brother, both of his arms held by different aliens as the other tore his legs off with apparent ease. Even as she reached for her BR-55, her brother continued screaming in pain and fear, and was only silenced when she put a bullet through his brain to ease his suffering. The next burst went into the Kig-Yar that tore his legs off, only a single round hitting a vital organ, and the alien fell, although it wasn't dead. Within moments, the other two aliens ran towards her, both dodging and weaving to make her shooting them all the harder. One was unlucky, and took a round to the eye, which blew a neat portion of its head off. The other fared better, only getting it's shoulder grazed by a single shot from Lillian's rifle. As it lept, Lillian smacked the butt of her rifle against the alien's exposed throat, then did something that would stay with her for the rest of her days. She ran. She turned and ran. Ran from the enemy, ran from her ration packs she stupidly left behind on the ground, and most importantly, ran from her dead brother. She heard the two remaining Kig-Yar follow her for a hour, and then the sounds of their shrill voices stopped, and only silence remained. 

[hr]

Hours passed. Lillian's face was caked with dirt and grime after crawling through the lush forest. Her eyes were red, and two streaks of clean skin going down her cheeks, obviously caused by her tears. Her mind was blank, all emotion drained out of the once-lively woman. She was a shell of her former self, the death of her brother affecting her a lot more than anything else that happened in her life. She sat against a tree with her knees tucked up to her chest, her shoulders still jolting every so often due to her recent sobs. More time passed, and she hadn't moved one inche. Some hours passed until her radio blared to life, first firing only static into her ear, before the actual transmission came through.

[color=orange]"Any available callsigns...t-this is Chariot 9-4-3...Respond over? I'm going to ping my location for a very short duration..."[/color]

She stared blankly at her knees for a few moments. During her entire time on the Shield-World, she hadn't once thought of anybody else apart from her team and her brother, and then nothing since her brothers death. [color=white][i]There's survivors. We-...I'm not alone.[/i][/color] The first thought that went through her head reminded her that she was alone at the moment, the second was to send a response. Slowly, she reached up and tapped the radio transmitter on the side of her helmet. She took a few deep breaths, before attempting to speak into it as clearly as she could.
[color=white]"C-crewman of the 29th H-hospital Corps... Lillian Kensington... My position is close to yours, I-I'll make my way there now... I'll come in from the west... Over..."[/color]
Despite all her efforts, it was obvious that her voice was still attempting to recover from crying, but to her, that didn't matter much to her. The thoughts of strangers didn't mean anything to her anymore. With that final thought, she shakily stood back up after over ten hours of being curled up. She took a few moments to stretch her limbs, and gather her thoughts once more, before she took off in the direction she was given. Her mind went back to sight of her brother being ripped apart, and tears silently flowed down her cheeks once more.[/color]