Junker's Remorse

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EDGE SPACE, 09.12.823 A.S.

Ari woke from yet another nightmarish sleep. The dream was always the same; crying out for help before a bright flash burned through her body. Each time she woke, she wished she were able to stay asleep. Things never changed and she had been adrift for so long...

She tried once again to stretch her limbs; to coax some form of feeling back into their stiff, rigid state. But nothing happened. Nothing ever happened. She was floating among a small cluster of debris in a gaseous cloud. Her spacesuit was without power, which meant no oxygen and no heat. Yet despite all this, Ari couldn't seem to die. And she wanted desperately to die, if only to put an end to the endless cycle of nightmares and waking paralysis.

Just as she closed her eyes to sleep again, a light caught her attention. It was a small light, but it was growing steadily closer. Ari revolted against her frozen body, trying desperately to move. Then the light's source broke through the nebula's gaseous clouds. Ari stopped her struggle and stared.

It was a small transport vessel, scarred and beaten by debris. Mismatched cargo pods hung underneath the ship's spine, and an array of weapons bristled from multiple emplacements. "I'm here!" Ari thought, "please, notice me!" As if the ship had heard her silent plea, a searchlight fell upon her face. "Yes! Yes, please get me out of this place!" Her hope was almost hysterical.

And then, along the upper spine of the battered ship's surface, a strange turret swiveled around to face her. Hope turned to panic. "No. NO! What are you doing?!? Don't shoot me! I'm not a thre-"

Red hot pain lanced through her body, melting any coherent thought. She screamed in silent agony as the laser bit into her suit. The ship angled closer to get a better shot just as a blue flash of electricity discharged from the nebula and struck the ship.

For a moment, the blinding pain stopped. The ship appeared disabled, as the blue energy raced around the outside of its hull. Its course brought it ever closer to the point where Ari was certain she could reach out and touch the surface, if only she could move.

Then they collided and a blinding flash of arcing blue energy knocked Ari unconscious once again...

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Characters:

Cory Walsh - Unknown
Ari Kova (Yaroslava Ivanov) - Active
Declan "Owen" Quinn - Active
Agent 1854 - M.I.A.

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