>Shihab<
Shihab had been lied down amidst the others, lying down in a supine position, with his left side closer to Tavi, at the front, and his right side facing the back end of the cart. Shihab lied in this position for the majority of the ride, where he dreamed. He dreamed of floating in the stellar abyss, i the black ocean riddled with so many lights, so many stars. He flew aimlessly, without any set destination, nor any control through the blackness. Even though he could not direct his flight, the beauty of the untainted cosmos was exhilirating, and he cared little for the fact that he could not control his flight. The dream seemed to continue for hours, hours that, to Shihab, passed by in the blink of a cosmic eye. The interstellar tour was ending, however, as he looked up, and could see a blue speck illuminated by a nearby star. The speck quickly grew bigger and bigger, it was a planet, specifically, his planet. He felt himself drawn to it by the mysterious force of gravity, letting it pull him through the atmosphere. He gained speed, accellerating to an inevitable and unavoidable collision with the ground. At last, impact came, and immediately there was nothing, just blackness; a cold sense of unknowing followed, Shihab was unsure if he had survived the fall, or perished.
A rattling noise came from the back of the cart during Shihab's dream, though no one else was yet conscious. There was one change, though. Despite the fact that Shihab himself was still unconscious, his right arm, encased in silvery, iridescent metal up to his shoulder, had somehow moved, and was now lied over his stomach. There was silence for another few minutes, until the same rattling was heard again. It was quite clearly metallic this time, sounding like two pieces of metal lightly rapping against eachother. Should Tavi have turned around this time, he would have seen Shihab was now face down, as if he had been flipped over. He was moaning in his sleep, apparently disturbed by the dreams. A few more minutes passed without further events.
With little warning, Shihab's unconscious body jerked up, the metal arm grasping onto Tavi's own arm, pointed metal fingertips clasping around his wrist. On the back of his hand, what appeared to be a luminous, triangular emblem appeared. It was composed of a central, equilateral triangle, surrounded on all sides by six pairs of elongated scalene triangles, pointing inwards and outwards alternatively. The emblem faded, and the metal hand went limp, Shihab's unconscious body collapsing back into the cart.
>Sabot<
"Think she's dead?"
"Oh... no, come on, Sabot, you can't die... come on, wake up."
"Relax Mildot, she's only been dazed. I feel a pulse."
Sabot opened her eyes to see her fireteam sitting beside her. She sat upright, finding herself in the center of a scene of absolute devastation. There were few other Gratorian soldiers nearby; the Gratorians had presumably already moved on, the rest were either bodies, the injured, or those tending to the injured.
"What happened?"
"That's the question everybody's asking."
Sabot stood up, picking her railgun up. Seeing that the blast had actually killed those close to the portal, she was thankful for the fact that she and her fireteam wore heavier armor.
"We can't just sit here. We have a duty that needs to be carried out."
"Come on, we just survived an explosion, I think that deserves at least a little rest."
"No, Sabot's right, we need to get moving, we have a job to do."
