<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/tcy1ck7.jpg)</div>Mizuki watched as the armored cockpit blasted free from the Akema, flopping back against her seat and closing her eyes for a moment.  Her chest rose and fell as she gasped audibly for air.  One by one, she pried her fingers off of the control sticks ... her hands were shaking.  No, her whole body was trembling like a leaf, it's just that her hands were where she could see it most clearly.  She gripped her arm with her other hand and made a fist, blowing her breath out in short puffs.<br/><br/><strong>"You're okay, you're okay.  Calm down, you're not dead.  Dead people don't hurt."</strong>she muttered rapidly under her breath.  That scare with the support rifle there had been too close ... if the weapon had just tracked further to the right, the damage might've been even more severe.<br/><br/><strong>"<em>Stupid!</em>"</strong>she cursed, smacking the heel of her palm against her forehead,<strong>"Turning your back on an armed enemy, what did you <em>think</em> would happen?"</strong>Of course, it was also reckless for the other pilot to gamble on that chance with the kind of damage she'd had.  Now instead of going back to base with a bunch of damage, she'd be going back on foot with no mech at all ... this wasn't the kindest region to be travelling alone and on foot.<br/><br/>But then ... Mizuki herself had been the one to blow up her comrades.  Would she really have been able to quit the field in such a situation herself?  She let her eyes slide to the side, looking at the billowing column of smoke that was still rising to the sky from the burning heap of the old technical, charred and blackened shapes were thrown about the landscape.  If she zoomed in, she knew they'd be bodies.  Bandits, yes, but people all the same.  Her stomache churned dangerously, but she shook her head.<br/><br/>Monsters were so much easier.  There were no questions, just survival.  Her instructor had told her time and again, pity for the enemy was a luxury no Warrior could afford ... but carnage like this just seemed gratuitous given that they weren't even at war.  Except, in a sense, they were; the war for survival meant that those who had would always be preyed upon by those who lacked.<br/><br/><strong>"Mn ... yessir."</strong>Bunny nodded a bit listlessly, sliding the bayonet back into its sheathe as she let out a deep breath, gripping the control sticks once again.<strong>"I'm okay.  For now, I mean.  Ryker's gonna chew me out something awful when we get back."</strong>as if to punctuate the statement, a shower of sparks popped from the rent joint as she tried to move the left stick,<strong>"I can't believe I lost the whole arm assembly~!"</strong>she whined piteously.<br/><br/>The heavy thud of her Chalcedon X's steps filled the air again as she took point.  It looked like everyone in the Convoy was still alive, if injured; that was something she could take some pride in at least.  Still, it'd mean nothing if they didn't get the Cibus where it was going, and the storm would reduce visibility even further.  The last thing she wanted to risk was another ambush.<br/><br/>After a few minutes though, Bunny tapped her BFW comm suite again, sending a query back to the command APC.<br/><br/><strong>"Excuse me, Sir."</strong>she said, a little hesitantly, a bit worried about being reprimanded for unnecessary chatter,<strong>"Do they really take Warriors as slaves out here?  I know there's not much of a talent pool for Mech Piloting available, but it's so hard for independents to maintain a Mecha, are there really enough around to justify putting a weapon like that in a slave's hands?  It sounds like playing with fire."</strong>