Prologue

She remembered...

She remembered a flash of light.

She remembered regret, and grief.

She remembered pain, and a long fall.

The pain was an old companion - she had lived with it for years. The fall, too, was familiar. Just so she had once fallen to land from the wreckage of her first ship.

She did not remember a landing.

****

Breathe.

Just Breathe.

The first breath was excruciating. She would have screamed if she could. She would have wept, but all her tears had burned away.

She could hear voices not far off. Calling to each other, searching for survivors.

"We have a live one! Careful, she's badly burned!"

A hand closed on hers.

The pain was so great, she blacked out.