Stella stopped for a moment, letting Aurora said her piece. She clearly was forcing herself to give praise to the Lilim, as she drew her hand to Aurora's lips for the moment being, a index finger softly indicating silence. "Voice, strained. Further talking unadvisable." The lilim droned for a brief moment before answere. "Goose blown up several iterations. Rebuilt. Stronger. Harder." She managed to piece together. She wanted to comfort this girl now, but now her cold hard chassis was unforgiving, and hard.

A new figure entered the perimeter. Her visage turned at him as she coldly assessed the unkown. A threat, perhaps? No, this one did not seem to follow the same patterns as the ones called Griff and Zel-Ghin so after a second, her gaze became slightly less severe. "Excessive input inadvisable to pilot Aurora due to neural feedback loop." Stella mildly chastised Lucius for running out his mouth, but there was an undercurrent of concern, not hostility, in her inflection.

It would take an extended time to discard her armor for the ABT cover that was most helpful in dealing with emotionally distressed humans, so she simply began to scan the room. Water. Blankets. Those mission parameters were acceptable. "Acknowledged mission parameters." She said to Lucius. "Procuring relief." Stella then broke in a brisk sprint, before steading herself before someone.

"Gene, Serah." Stella said, her current task momentarily halted, as a second routine popped up on her mind. "You lied to this unit." She said, sternly, as she tilted her head. "Sanctions are in order." It was when she realized something. "Detecting distress. Recalculating." She added, blabbing, before [i]lifting the modest-sized pilot by her armpits[/i] and rushed her back to where Aurora and Lucius were, dropping her nonchalantly next to Aurora.

"Please hug eachother for comfort." She indicated. "Soft and cute parameters within threshold. Serah's punishment is therapy." She said to both Aurora and Serah, before adding. "Resuming material gathering mission." Stella droned, and then [i]zoomed[/i] away, at full speed, before doing an impressive [i]frontflip[/i] to avoid a certain terminal and a distressed technician in her search for water and blankets. They had to be provided.
[@Ammokkx][@Crusader Lord][@Shifter_Master]

[hr]

Meanwhile, inside the simulation Bug groaned, still wobbling after the intense moments. "...merde. Got me good." He had managed to breathe out after all the ordeal, as he drew his hands to his face and breathed deep, still inside the cockpit. The pain should've disabled him... and yet...he had been through to worse. It was like going back to that time. And yet, for some stupid reason... he was [i]elated.[/i] He flipped the general communications channel.

"[i]Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones can not bear it for long; only men endure.[/i]" Astolfo quoted a line from a certain book about the ancient battle of Stalingrad. "I'll give it to you, Dame Aurora. [i]Très bien. C'est magnifique.[/i] That [i]really[/i] hurt. Unlike some others who are all [i]bragging[/i]." He said, hoping the fallen captain of the other team could hear him. That fierce scream, in fire and violence, cursing at the heavens...he knew about it. He knew about it a lot. Perhaps it was Aurora, not Ava the one he should call Boudica.

Nevertheless, he then switched to his own team channel, his voice much more sombre. The playfulness had almost eroded, subsumed by a certain arousal and battlelust. "My bad, people. This one's on me. I got heavy damage, and I lost the drones I was entrusted. Nevertheless, I will try to keep up. I [i]will go on foot if I have to.[/i]" Astolfo gritted his teeth. But what he could do with his useless junk of a mech? Taunt? Play bait? Wait for someone to get in range and hack their framewerk? It was when he rested his eyes on some wreckage, and remembering his speech, he rose again. Limping. Crawling. He forgot to close his channel. "Activating [b]Segmented Recombination[/b].Purging all useless parts." 

He offered a wry, wicked smile. "Oh glorious fallen. Oh prideful beast. Your master might be gone already, but I shall give you one more chance to serve under me." Astolfo said, his words full of venom as he crawled towards the remains of Squid, his mind racing. The kattai system. If he could seize it. If he could seize the damaged but still in better shape limbs of the creature, he would be back into the fight. He could still make a difference. "Now...[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p5d60qbZhc]Rise from your grave.[/url]" He then noticed the communications channel still being open, and closed it with a grunt.

It was time to sink or swim. He opened his [b][Metal Mind][/b]command console, as he gave the inputs with a stern face.

[Bugatti Token consumed on Bug]
[Cockroach Moving to P16]
[Cockroach performing hacking on Kattai system from Squid remains, aiming to seize the legs to make up for lost mobility and weapons]
[@shylarah][@Randomguy][@Dezuel]