De Profundo, in tenebris (Miraj's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Part 4 of 4))

Posted on Tue Mar 28th, 2023 @ 3:01am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani

Mission: Season 6: Episode 2: Survival
Location: shuttle caves
Timeline: MD02 2350
1012 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Miraj climbed back down from Acheron. She didn't fall, despite being at least two sheets to the wind and loose around the reefings, because she took each step extremely slowly. She swayed slightly, shaky on her feet from all the rum. She knew it was probably bad to indulge in the real thing rather than synthehol, but right now she liked the kaldeiscope divide between her and reality. If it meant she bounced off a couple of tightly packed shuttles as she wove her way to her precious wave rider, then so be it, if they left any bruises, well, she'd suffered worst. They'd be signs that she, as the barman had said, was a survivor.

Like most places that were low traffic during the night, the lights in the shuttle cave were low, casting thick shadows between the small vehicles that sat there. The single point of bright light was on the far side of the cave, where the on-call pilots were gathered in the flight control office to pass the graveyard shift together. The thought stabbed guilt deep into her guts and twisted. So few of them left now. She scrubbed a couple of fat tears away. Could feel the emotions she'd buried start to well up. She could cry in a second, a really good cry. Get it out, then pick herself up and start being who she should be, start doing what she was meant to do, and get everyone home.

She was also going to stop self-flagellating in that horrible shelter and be somewhere warm, and importantly, sound-proof, so she could pull herself together in private. She staggered to Queen Anne, more by feel than anything else, the night lighting making things darker down amongst the closely packed shuttles rather than brighter, and Queen Anne's black paintwork only sucked up more of the light. Her ship was locked and minimally powered, and she got awkwardly to her knees to grope blindly under for the manual door release.

A hand grabbed her hair roughly, and before she could utter a word of surprise, her face was slammed into the side of the black waverider. Her nose met the surface with a crack and the pain that exploded behind her eyes was all encompassing, stealing her breath, her vision, all strength for her limbs.

It happened again, before she'd even realised the first blow had happened. The hand in her hair was implacable, like it was trying to force her head through the hull plating. She tasted iron in her mouth, the pain of her teeth cutting into her cheeks and tongue went unnoticed under the screaming from her nose and forehead. The wetness on her face was sticky now, and left gleaming smears on the side of Queen Anne.

Her unseen attacker threw her to the floor and it was only then she realised what was happening. The first blows had been sudden and fast and now she was on the floor, and she knew she had to get away. She immediately started crawling, trying to roll under her ship and hide there.

"Uh, uh, uh," said a calm voice. It sounded strange against the ringing in her ears, like it was coming from far away. Then a hand grabbed her ankle, and dragged her back into the shadowed space between the shuttles. "You stay where I put you." A large heavy foot came down on her left leg. Hard. She felt the bones there give way and the breath she struggled to get through the pain in her head was lost again. She couldn't even get enough breath to call for help.

The foot came down again, on her right thigh, with a crunch. By now she could barely tell one injury from another, and there was just the agony telling her she had to run, to get away. She tried, rising on to her elbows. Her efforts were met with a snort, and then they kicked her. The sharp toe of a boot caught her stomach and the force knocked her back and she coughed out a wheezing groan.

"This is all your fault," Another kick and Miraj felt something give way in her chest and it suddenly felt like she was drowning, unable to get a breath, the air gurgling but never going anywhere. "You had to show off," The next blow bounced off the arm she put up to try and ward the assailant off. It took the strength off the foot to her face, but broke her wrist. She curled up, trying to protect her head and chest as fear swirled into her foremost thoughts. Someone was trying to kill her. "And now there's hundreds dead." kick, "We're centuries from home." kick, "And that's on you." kick.

Miraj had spent enough time doing high-G manoeuvres to know what impending unconsciousness felt like. She tried to rise up, coughed up a wad of blood, and was kicked back down again. Another kick turned her on her back, and a boot pressed across her throat. What scant icy breath she had been able to drag in was cut completely. Her attacker was indistinct and blurry through the half-light and pain, and she grabbed at their ankle, but her grip was far too feeble to dislodge them. The grey edges of her visions was rapidly turning black, her vision fading.

She was dieing. She didn't have the strength left to even paw at the foot pinning her down. The pressure increased, pinning her in place as her body started to thrash, heels thumping erratically. She was dieing. She was going to die here. her thoughts flickered, her father, her brother, even her mother. S'hib, and Rin and Avalon and T'kek and T'han and Queen Anne and Elysium, but they flitted away before she could focus. She was dieing. She was alone, save the one who was killing her.

Alone in all the ways that counted.

And she was dieing.

 

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