Reunion

As the fire extinguisher smokescreen went up, Cass scattered along with the other handmaids and quickly dodged around the side of Ulhurath’s litter to retrieve the device she had stowed there, in a storage compartment, some hours earlier
Pulling the compartment door open, she hauled out a two metre length of pipe, bound up with linen and leather which had been used to secure a multitude of hypercapacitors, superconductors and other industrial components that she had been secretly cannibalising from around Ulhurath’s house over the last few days
A weapon
Ulhurath lunged at her as Garth and Jamie emerged from the swirling smoke, Cass springing back to avoid the Haruk’s massive clawed hand and levelling the device at the matriarch
"[[What is this?]]" Ulhurath snarled dangerously
Seeing Cass wielding what he took to be a weapon, Jamie followed suit and raised his own gun to aim it at the Haruk
"[[Back off!]]" he yelled “[[Or I’ll use this!]]”
“She doesn't even know what a gun is!” Garth hissed, nervously plucking at his sleeve behind him “She’s never going to fall for that!”
“[[You pathetic worms]]” Ulhurath snarled, lumbering up to her full four metre height as Cass fumbled to activate her crude weapon and was rewarded seconds later with a satisfying, low hum; the feedback even through the dampers and makeshift insulation setting her teeth on edge and making the remains of her hair stand up on end
“[[I mean it!]]” Jamie yelled, nervously aiming the gun and yet backing away slightly “[[I’ll kill you!]]”
Ulhurath’s snarl widened into an angry roar at this, her lips curling back to reveal a set of yellowing, five centimetre long fangs as she lashed out with frightening speed to smack the weapon from Jamie’s hand with bone crunching force
“Oh, shit” Garth gasped, dodging back with Jamie and wishing to hell that he still had the artefact that he had lost back in the generator tunnels
The one assailant dealt with, Ulhurath rounded on Cassandra and, lowering her head, charged towards her, closing the distance between the two of them with a speed that belied her vast bulk, Cass only just managing to engage the weapon in time
The feedback was an absolute bitch, and made her gasp in pain; but it was nothing to what Ulhurath endured as, with steam billowing from her mouth, she collapsed to the floor like a puppet whose strings had suddenly been cut
Cass watched impassively as the huge Haruk spasmed and twitched at her feet, the matriarch vainly clawing at her chest, trying futilely to draw breath with what remained of her ruptured and charred lungs
"What the smeg is that thing!?" Jamie demanded, flexing his fingers painfully as he scrambled to retrieve his useless gun from the floor
"EM weapon" Cass shrugged in response, hefting the device up onto her shoulder "We’ll save the introductions for later. We should move"
“What the smeg?” Garth snapped in astonishment "Those things have been banned for centuries!"
"Like I give a shit" Cass paused to hawk a gob of phlegm which she spat onto Ulhurath's corpse "Smeg you, you bitch!"
"Cass” Neewam yelled, hovering nearby “[[Look out!]]”
The three humans wheeled to see another half dozen Haruk males clambering up over the balcony rail behind them through the rapidly dispersing smoke, each clutching the huge machette-like knives favoured by their kind
"For smeg’s sake" Cass hissed loosing another high energy blast and boiling the brain of lead Haruk, the pressure messily blowing the side of the creature's skull out in a hot gout of blood and vapour
She loosed another shot and dropped another Haruk before glancing in askance at Jamie
"Are you going to smegging well shoot or what!?"
"I don’t have any ammo" he confessed sheepishly as Cass fired again, killing yet another of the blue monsters and thankfully making the three remaining survivors break and retreat back over the balcony in panic
"You have got to be smegging joking!?" she snapped, rounding on Jamie "You went up against a female Haruk with nothing but a mildly intimidating manner and an empty gun? Are you smegging mad!?"
"Well..." Jamie muttered, scratching the back of his head and gazing down at his feet - He had kinda hoped this damned woman would at least have been grateful
"I mean come on" Cass demanded, looking between Garth and Jamie "Who the hell came up with that brilliant plan!?"
"[[Cass...]]" Neewam approached cautiously, the two other handmaids crowding in behind her "[[Others will come. We should go]]"
“[[I agree]]” Cass nodded, and turned to Garth and Jamie “Where to? How did you get in here?”
“There are sewer tunnels beneath the arena” Garth volunteered “We came in through them”
“Good enough for me” Cass shouldered her weapon and turned to leave “Let’s go”

The three humans and their Ssala companions scrambled over the viewing balcony and down onto the sand on the arena floor to dash through the smoke and violence surrounding them, making their way towards the centre of the amphitheatre where the entrance to the sewers was located
Before they had even got part way, a massive dinosaur loomed out of the smoke, towering high above them
“Smegging shit!” Cass screeched, dodging around the huge creature and defensively raising her weapon, wondering if she had enough charge left in it to even damage a creature that size
“It’s her!” a voice cried
Squinting up through the smoke into the sunlight, Cass could just about make out the figures sat astride the huge beast
“Jay?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, not even daring to hope that he might be here
“Cass!” a familiar voice yelled as a rope ladder snaked down the side of the huge beast, Jay following it seconds later
“You came!” she cried, sprinting towards him and catching him up in a clumsy embrace as soon as he had set foot on the floor, her lips finding his as the chaos and violence surrounding them was forgotten in a brief but joyously blissful moment of reunion
“I love you” she breathed, gazing into his eyes as they finally broke it off

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Go on Mr. Longman do your worst ;)

Of course if anyone else wants to tell them to knock it off, and move things along, feel free – There’s a shuttle of some description waiting on a nearby landing pad, but can we even get into it, or has it been ransacked by the Haruk already and we have to find another way offworld?
Do we want to leave?
Should we even be considering abandoning the Ssala without offering what help we can?
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