Injured In Action
Injured In Action.
One line…One line and three words…One line, three words, and fifteen letters.
How could something so small, and so short, be so significant? How could something so small, and so short, be so heart-breaking?
That was all I heard. That was all I wanted to hear, all I needed to hear, all I was dreading to hear. This felt like a nightmare-A violent vision conjured from my broken mind. A brutal illusion created by my non-existent soul. A sick apparition stirred from my damaged heart. In those few devastating moments I realized she was the only thing that mattered to me. I didn't care the USS Enterprise was falling, faster than the speed of light, faster than it ever had before. It didn't matter we were going to die, because I didn't want to live in a world without her. I didn't want to wake up in the morning without her next to me, or go to sleep at night with only memories.
Injured In Action.
The ship was in critical condition. Plummeting towards an inhabitable planet at an impossible speed. Our chances of survival were non-existent, as were our hopeless attempts of fixing the Enterprise's engines. Fire surrounded us, technology failing left right and centre, the ship falling apart above our heads. Everyone's eyes fell upon me as I rose from my seat and broke into a run. I pushed past crowds of people, threw doors out of my way, and staggered through the many rooms and halls of the Enterprise. I knew where she was-I could feel her calling for me, searching for me, looking for me. The ship sank even lower, and a large panel of the ceiling came crashing down, missing me by inches. My heart hammered in my chest, my breath had ceased entirely, and my green blood coursed through my Vulcan veins. I had to hear her voice, see her face, remember her as she is now, I had to hold her, speak to her, feel her heartbeat, and bask in her never-ending glow. I threw the hospital doors open…and she was there.
I could tell from the moment I saw her she was dying. But even if she did survive her battle wounds, we were all going to die the moment the Enterprise crash-landed. Either way, we were meeting our end one second at a time. Her face lit up when she saw me, and her eyes brightened as if she was looking up at some angelic saviour. I ran towards her, threw my arms round her, and swore to myself that I would never let go.
"I'm going to die," She whispered in my ear, smoothing the hair at the nape of my neck. Even though I knew this fact, it still broke my heart to hear her say it. "So am I, but I deserve it. I couldn't save you, I couldn't protect you…I failed you"
She shook her head in refusal and took my face in her smooth, soft hands and kissed me. In that kiss, I could feel every emotion she had ever felt for me, I felt the happiness when she was with me and the sadness when I was gone. I saw the joy she had felt the first time we made love, and the anger she had felt the first and only time we had quarreled, and I knew, in those last few moments of our existence…
I loved her - more than anything else on this planet… or the next.