<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/13/Ha_Otoko_color.jpg)</div><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Wrociaw - Dense Forest</strong><br/><br/>Damian kept up the pace, quickly gaining on the minor lead Kari and Allia had on him. He kept Charybdis torso twisted in the direction of the pursuing Falcon 'Mechs, behaving as if he was still fully capable of opening fire. The observant among their enemies would likely be able to tell that he wasn't firing a single projectile, and that his other arm's mortar had been broken by the earlier volley. However, the former Sea Fox clanner hoped they weren't going to call his bluff and continued to keep up appearances. Given the poor state of communications within the dense forest, Damian simply gave up attempting to discuss matters with his teammates. It would be wasted breath and might cause more confusion than it would lift. Better to trust Kari to make the right call when the time came. No one else seemed to know what had happened to her father and he was already trying to figure out how he was going to tell her about the loss of their commander. He had died a warrior's death, there was no shame in that, but he had been in contact with non-clanners all his life in some capacity. He knew they were not raised to see it that way, not usually.<br/><br/>He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind when a Medium Laser discharge ripped its way through some armor on his 'Mech's shoulder. No permanent harm was caused, but it once again forced Damian to concentrate on how dire the situation was. A few more direct hits like that and odds were likely he was done for. When the forest finally gave way to the scorched and battered plains leading to their dropship, Damian felt as though he had gotten his second wind. There was hope for survival. If he was going to go out, it would be in a blaze of glory in a battle that meant something, not an operation gone awry and turned into a veritable slaughter.<br/><br/><strong>"Ma'am, we cannot wait for other survivors. The Falcons are almost on top of us. The dropship will deter their advance some, but it will not take them long to completely overwhelm us. I am the only survivor of Command Lance,"</strong> his voice was calm as ever, even though, for once, he found himself in a battlefield situation where some empathy and emotion could have gone a long way to convince Kari that leaving while they still could was the best course of action. He had been one of the last to actually enter the forest in retreat, and no one else had been on the other side of the natural barrier alive. If anyone else made it through, or was going to, they would have by now. Leaving people behind was not very high on his list of favorite activities, of course, but in his pragmatic eyes, they were doomed if they did not.</div>