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It was only thanks to King that Alice didn't fall to the ground as the recoil of the rounds hitting the pupped shook her arm The moment King began suppressing the attacking puppet, Alice felt the sidearm she was using slip from her hand, now empty of bullets after continuous discharge. Wounded, Alice's hands immediately went to her side, doing everything she could amidst grunts of pain to put pressure on the wounds caused by the puppet. A quick self-examination showed that apart from the deep wound, by sheer luck, the puppet's claws had missed her organs for a few centimeters, undoubtedly thanks to her suit slowing it's attack.

[color=8882be]"I... don't feel any internal wounds."[/color] Alice said, replying to Echo. Breathing heavily as she nodded, thanking King as she took her closer to Echo's microform.

[color=8882be]"No qillatu poisoning... Yet. This place in particular, it... it does [i]not[/i] help..."[/color] Alice replied after hearing Flux's voice through the comms, just as Echo's small microform began providing supplies to both path the hole in the suit and her wounds.

Truth be told, having already been wounded this early into the mission was definitely [i]not[/i] ideal. While the wounds Alice received weren't grave, she knew for a fact they would affect her performance in the remaining of the mission, be it due to pain or risking the wounds re-opening due to intense movement. While there wasn't much she could do regarding the latter, if the pain became an issue, at least Alice still had a number of the same stimulant rounds she had used on Kleo on the previous mission. Her tolerance to said drugs was pretty decent too, since she had used them on herself a number of times during her expeditions in her home fleet and in previous missions, so as long as she didn't use them too much, it shouldn't be a problem.

[color=8882be]"Thanks."[/color] Alice said, both to Echo and King as she began patching herself and her suit with Echo's assistance.

With the route they were taking already been chosen, Alice quickly finished closing her wounds as best she could, before injecting herself with one of the stimulant mixtures. The cocktail of drugs quickly entered her body, giving her energy and making the pain disappear, even if temporarily. As the group distanced themselves from the previous area, Alice too felt the symptoms of being in a qillatu saturated atmosphere weakening, which undeniably helped to improve her complexion.

The change of scenery was a rather radical one as they exited the tunnel leading to the open section of the Sargasso station. The cramped and tight tunnels gave way to the irregular metallic surface of the station's outside. The already irregular exterior was made even worse due to constant impacts and the lack of maintenance. 

To say it would be a rough terrain to traverse was quite an understatement. In particular, some of the jagged edges of the contorted metal plates due to impacts seemed to be capable of easily tearing through a suit if one wasn't careful around them. In the other hand, the wide chasms that seemed like they were clawed into the outside of the station extended deep within the maze-like inside of the Sargasso station. On top of all that, even though the place they were seemed to be much less dangerous than the ether-infected inside of the Sargasso station, Alice could still feel some faint ethereal signatures, which kept her alert as she continued following the path their heads-up display provided them, always within sight of the gunship drifting reasonably close to them, ready to provide support, if needed.

[color=8882be]"I can only feel a few, faint ethereal signatures... But they're still there. Apart from being careful with the terrain, it would be wise to keep an eye on these signals... I do agree it would be a bit more relaxing if we had a better sensors... Just to be sure."[/color] Alice said, agreeing with King as he spoke. While she was sure some people would see King's cautiousness as being paranoid, Alice knew better than anyone that being this near to a place with high ethereal activity, there was no such thing as being too careful.

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