The speeder shot away so fast, Liriael almost lost her grip. She hunched down over the controls, hearing the echoing scream of the angered creature ringing in her ears. She did not dare slow down, did not dare look back, but she cast out her senses as far as she could, wobbling on the limping speeder. There; at the edge of her consciousness, the sharp edge of absence that signified whatever this thing was. She could not sense anything from it, no emotions, but she heard the wails, the inarticulate rage speaking of retribution and revenge. And Liriael knew....it was no Gakkt.
But real or not, if she didn't reach the med center in Theed, she was going to die. Even now, she couldn't hold onto the speeder and press on the gouged wound on her shoulder, so the blood flowed freely. By the time she reached the outskirts of the city, her shirt was soaked down to her waist, and her boot was a mess of coagulating blood. The speeder wouldn't navigate the city itself; she abandoned it by the entrance and stumbled in, hearing shouts and cries as people spotted her in the twilight. Going to her knees, Liriael fished her communicator out of her pocket and tried to message her crew with one hand, but she couldn't focus on the screen for long, and it tumbled from nerveless fingers. There was the sound of running, and then she lay down on the cool street tiles and closed her eyes.