"She's reacting to outside stimuli."
Pain. Deep, throbbing excruciating pain. Everything hurt it felt like even every last strand of hair on her body was burning that message to her brain, at the same time. She could barely breathe, let alone talk and she was sure that if she opened her mouth only a scream would be released. Dr. Chakwas was sure to try to talk to her though, and Kaiden would be furious. What had she been thinking, sending him away like that! Without even a goodbye kiss! Send him off to duty right before... before... the explosion.
Showing an awareness of her surroundings."
Normandy, under attack... unknown ship, crewman to escape pods... SOP... Kaiden... Kaiden! Her eyelids fluttered and she heard voices, albeit heavily muffled, as though she was hearing them through water. "I think she's coming to..." It was a mans voice, but not Kaiden's. Where was Kaiden! She'd been hurtled into space by the explosion from the Normandy's drive core, he should be here! He was alive and well, he had to be! Wait, what ahd he said? Coming to? From what? Did they need to do some sort of surgery on her? She knew she'd taken a bad hit from that bulkhead but what... what... The air caught in her lungs and her eyes snapped open.
"Oh my god, Miranda, I think she's waking up!"
Bulkhead...explosion, shockwave sending her into space...space... She'd been spaced! How in the hell had she survived entry into Alchera's atmosphere? She should have been burnt.. to …. a … oh. That's why everything hurt. She had been burnt, but she'd survived it! Jsut like she'd survived everything else in her life. Father had been right after all. She was a survivor. She'd survived Mindior, she was the only one of her squad to survive Torfan and she'd survived the Battle for the Citadel. Of course she'd survive her ship... exploding.
"Damn it Wilson! She's not ready yet! Give her the sedative!"
She remembered the explosion and floating through the nothingness of space. That free falling feeling, seeing the escape pods falling to the planet below as she seemed to hang in stillness. All she could hear was her own panicked breathing, coming heavy and fast, that is until there was nothing left to breathe. The emergency O2 tank on her hardsuit had begun to leak. She'd reached back to try and stop it, to disconnect what she could and seal the leak but... she'd found it too late. Her lungs had frozen first, she'd felt as though her heart would pound its way out of her chest and her blood began to thicken. Her limbs felt heavy and she couldn't... she couldn't breathe. She could hear a heart monitor racing somewhere outside her field of vision. There was a man standing beside her bed, but she couldn't get the message to her hand to grab him, force him to answer her questions. Wilson... that had to be his name. She turned her head to the other side and saw a dark haired woman – Miranda, apparently - trying to talk to her.
"Shepard, don't try to move, just lie still. Try to stay calm."
NOT MOVE! What the hell! She would move if she damn well felt like it and right now... Right now she had to get some answers. She didn't trust her biotics, they were unstable enough on a good day, but she could move her arm. Move her arm... and open her hand and try to grab...grab the womans arm... No! Not her hand her arm...dammit. The woman had moved. That had to have been it. Where was Chakwas! Where was Kaiden! Joker? Liara! Garrus! Wrex! She felt like screaming, but her throat was dry and her lips felt chapped. She swallowed ahrd, trying to get something...anything.
"Heart rates still climbing, brain activity is off the charts."
Damn straight! You try almost dying... no, that wasn't right. She had died. She'd felt herself leave her body. It was more than an out of body experience. She'd had those before, but this... This had been different. She'd DIED! Oh god... oh god, what had it done to Kaiden? What had her thought! It must have destroyed him... He was the only thing in her life that was sane...normal. At least, as Normal as you could get when you're racing after an insane rouge Spectre and his army of Geth minions as they followed the command of a sentient machine race that only you knew about and no one would or even could believe what you saw! Kaiden! She felt her tongue trying to move around her mouth, felt the control re-enter her mind, she knew how to speak again, she could if only...
"Stats pushing into the red zone. It's not working!"
"Another dose, NOW!"
Suddenly she couldn't think straight. Her mind felt as though she'd been out all night on the Citadel, drinking. But that wasn't right... she'd been out drinking before and she'd never gotten this... this... Kaiden. She had to get to Kaiden. She ahd to focus... Focus on... finding Kaiden. Where was Kaiden?
