Salem remained in a low stance, and nodded at Parker as the soldier entered the smoke cloud and came close enough to see. He was a bit annoyed by Jocun and Parker's interference- Rathien wasn't dumb enough to try and fight them all, and they might cost Salem his chance at ending this.
His attention was very quickly recalled to the situation at hand when the beeping in his head suddenly began decreasing in frequency. No! Rathien was retreating! He barely had time to be annoyed, however, when the ground beneath him began to lift upwards and explode outward.
Instinctively, he loosened his knees and rolled to the side, down what amounted to being a fountain of rising earth. He struggled back to his feet- difficult to do, now that his right arm was all-but-useless. It seemed he'd twisted his knee during the fall, as well. It could have been worse, he thought, as chunks of gravel rained down around him.
Parker and Jocun were both already firing shots off in the direction Salem guessed most likely for Rathien. Where did they get off? This wasn't their fight. If they killed Rathien before Salem could get to him, he'd have a few... choice words to share with the two of them.
He simply stood, his right arm limp, favoring his right leg. His smoke cloud had been mostly dissipated by the Entroper's blast, and there was no sign of the smoke grenade he'd used. Even so, he was convinced he could take the Ildari, should he make a move. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the area, trying to ignore the darkness beginning to cloud the edges of his vision.
Al blinked. He wasn't entirely used to dealing with people who were so uncomfortable around him, but he could guess what was happening- Ewa, like Larry, earlier, just didn't seem at ease with the idea of an artificial being.
"Hey, I don't bite," he said jokingly. "Not usually, anyway. I'm still the same guy, promise. I'm just a bit more metallic than you realized." He smiled at her, "I thought you were okay with the idea of alien cultures and all that. How's an android all that much different?"