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Epsilon let out a pained moan, as she woke up laying in mound of rocks and sand. For a while she couldn't feel much more than a throbbing ache in her right side, but it didn't take long for her pain to creep up on her, and leave her whimpering in the sand. She opened her eyes to look for danger, or someone coming to help her, but the glare of the sun quickly forced her to close them again.
She eventually opened her eyes once more, fighting back a cry of pain as she tried to get a look at the damage. She could feel she was missing her wings, and she wasn't quite sure what the condition of her secondary wings and stabilizers were in, but from the sound a sputtering engine she could tell at least one of her afterburners was still working enough to continue burning. Her landing gear was crumpled beneath her, and she could feel a deep gash in her side just under her left wing.
She groaned and closed her eyes again, the heat was horrible and the pain was unimaginable. All she could think about was making it stop.
Again she lost consciousness, falling in to a void of black nothingness.
When she awoke the second time she could here static in one side of her headset, but she was too weak to even try and contact her base. She didn't have the strength to even think clearly, so trying to signal for help was out of the question.
As she lay in the dust, barely wake she began to hear what sounded like helicopter blades…
She groaned in pain and opened her eyes as she tried her best to prop herself up a small rock. She ended up not eve being strong enough to move an inch. She looked around as far as she could, but between the sand in her eyes and the glare of the sun she couldn't see a thing.
She closed her eyes again and just lay limply in the sand, her head felt like it was being pounded on by jackhammer and her whole airframe was plagued with agonizing pain.
As she lay there, the sounds of helicopters got louder and she began to feel wind against her frame. It seemed like hour before she finally heard shouting, and felt the strong wind of a near by chopper.
She opened her eyes weakly, and saw a large sandy colored pickup truck rush towards her. He shouted something at her over the noise of rotors, but she couldn't understand a word he said.
He drove up next to her face. "Can you hear me?!" He shouted over the wind.
She let out a weak groan, trying to talk. The only thing that came out was a pathetic squeak. She closed her eyes again, and fought to turn off her working afterburner.
Everything after that was like a dream, reality slipping from her grasp leaving only fleeting traces of memory behind. But after everything that had happened, she took comfort in the fact that she was in good hands now.
"Epsilon, can you hear me?"
Epsilon groaned, opening her eyes and fighting the bright glare to lights. "Wha….?" She asked as he eyes adjusted. She was in an operating room, being swarmed from all sides by mechanics and air force personnel. Two bright white lights hung just over her head, and the sound of welders and other medical equipment hard at work, repairing her mangled frame.
To her relief she watched the familiar face of John Wherling -her mechanic- frowning up at her, forks crossed and eyebrows forming a V shape. "Good, you're awake. How do you feel?" He asked, using one of his forks to lifter up her head and inspect the damage to her underbelly.
She flinched as he prodded a few scraped and sore patches under her chin, than began cleaning them out, making twitch slightly when he rubbed the cleaner on the open wound.
She took a few moments to consider his question, looking at reflective surfaces around the room to get a good look at her condition, only to find out that they had draped a tarp over most of her, probably to keep her from seeing the damage. "I… I don't think there's part of me that doesn't hurt…" She finally said, her voice was quiet and quivering.
John snorted, not even looking up. "Not surprising, you took quite a fall there. You're lucky to be alive, even more so that you can talk to me this soon after."
Epsilon made a small noise of agreement and closed her eyes again, overwhelmed. "How bad is it?" She asked, although she dreaded the most likely answer.
"Well, if your luck continues to hold, you may be able to fly again, though we shouldn't get out hopes up yet." He said, getting down from his lift, and driving around to where her wings were supposed to be. "Now get some rest, before I have to knock you out." He said, picking up a large needle and tapping it on one of his forks. "We all know how well that always works out."
Epsilon didn't bother protesting, she was just glad the pain killers that she knew were running in to drips were working well enough to take the edge of most of the pain.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on falling back asleep, but the noise, commotion and the rest of the pain made it hard for her to get a clear enough head.
After a few minutes she felt John poke the needle in to her fuel pump. "It should start working in a few minutes, so just hang tight." He said
Epsilon made a whine in return, and sighed heavily. She was awake enough that she was now able to think clearly enough to relies she had been the first of her kind to be shot down in combat. Sure, others, -Like her Father- had crashed, but she'd been shot down by enemy fire. She groaned, and tried to shove that thought out of her mind. Not here, not now. She thought. I can't dwell on that… not while I'm still in here…
Slowly she felt the tranquilizer take effect and she drifted off in to a deep sleep, as the mechanics continued to work.