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"By the Divine …" Tescadji groaned as he righted himself, bruised, but unharmed, thanks to the reactiveness of his spells "Is everyone alive?"

"I aroans as Krako, Alaema, Sedriil, Noroa, Garen, and Jenius stood up, with no more than bruises or a few ht it as it?" Tescadji said, picking hi to stay low

"I'rief-stricken voice rang out, causing im heads to turn in his direction Jenius, as the closest, crawled to his side to find hih a pile of now-ruined throw pillows had broken her fall, she was lying motionless upon the floor

"She saved me …" Aldrec said "It should have been ht of what happened came fully into view

The back of Mericlou's jacket and shirt had been completely burned away, but the skin of her back was unharmed Her eyes ide open, her face frozen in an expression of shock

"Oh no …" Skori said hoarsely as he dragged himself to his sister's side Sedriil, Noroa, Garen, and Alaema followed suit, and Noroa iht," Skori said, kneeling down beside Mericlou's prostrate for "Is she …?"

"Dead? No," Skori said with a slow shake of his head "But she ht as well be What knocked the wind out of us all was a military-issue crippler beam"

"They were supposed to have all been dismantled!" Tescadji ejected

"They weren't all accounted for," Jenius informed hi about? What's a crippler bea to remember," Skori said, as tears ran down the sides of his bruised and ned by the Republic army to disrupt the electronic systems of androids If an android is injured, even severely, the CPU, which is the best protected part of our bodies, usually survives If the current body is daed beyond repair, then the CPU can be adapted for a new central nervous system In plain common, the brain can be transferred into a new body But a crippler is specifically designed to target the android's central nervous system, and deliver a lethal shock directly into their CPU But even when this happens, death usually isn't immediate Paralysis is the first symptom, then memory wipe, and then death"