Sarah slowly blinked awake, a sombre tiredness still clutching her body as she hauled herself up and out of the cot she called a bed. Pausing for just a moment she stared down at the dulled and scratched steel plating that formed the casing of her arms and couldn’t help but let out a soft, disappointed sigh, at least when she was installing back alley cybernetics on terra she could keep her own well maintained but here on this fucking ship she couldn’t even do that. The only reason she was on the CNS Vengeance in the first place is because the Cosmic Navy had “conscripted” her to fight in their war against the Affini, then when the Accord had been crushed the captain of the ship took it upon himself to keep fighting, once again “conscripting” her into the rebellion, on pain of death if she refused. No point in focusing on that now though, all she needed to do was make it through each damn day at a time and maybe if she was lucky, find a way off this accursed ship. After taking what time she could to wash, doing her best to not use too much of her water ration she slipped into her Cosmic Navy jumpsuit and took her pills, making note of her rapidly dwindling stockpile. A sigh and a shrug later she soon made her way down to the ship's small medical bay, her Mag boots keeping her locked to the ground even in microgravity and the servos in her legs making a pleasant whirring sound as she walked.

Her knowledge of cybernetics necessitated at least a basic understanding of medicine and because of that she had been assigned as the ship's impromptu medic. Finally she had reached her destination and with a push of a button the door slid open. The medical bay, If you could call it that, was just a single medical bed and what few drugs and tools could be scraped together and put to use. In those spare moments when she didn’t have any patients to attend to Sarah did whatever she could to occupy herself, which usually involved one of two things: cleaning or tinkering with her cybernetics, this time she chose the former. She told herself it was for sanitation, after all a med bay should be sanitary, but in reality it was just to keep herself busy. Just as she had finished scrubbing down the small desk she liked to keep her tools arrayed on she heard the door slide open, turning around she was met with Jonas, one of the few people on this ship she could actually stand being around. 

“And what brings you to darken my doorway Mr. Stevenson” She said, her lips curling up into a wry smile. “Just another workplace incident, Dr. Hadley.” A frown care across Sarah's face, she hated being called doctor, it wasn’t even true, she didn’t have any kind of degree, just a bit of know how.  “I thought i told you to just call me Sarah.” “and i told you to just call me Jonas.” Well, he had her there, with a sigh and an almost imperceptible smile she raised up her hand and beckoned Jonas over with a robotic finger. “Come on let’s have a look at you.” Joans did as he was told, perching himself on the medical bed and holding out his hand for Sarah. Immediately it was obvious what the problem was, severe plasma burns all over the hand, an unfortunately all too common injury here. Fishing out what little burn cream she had left, Sarah began to gently apply it to the hand, eliciting little winces and sharp intakes of air from Jonas. Once she was finished she slowly began to wrap up the hand in bandages. “You really need to get off of reactor duty Jonas, this is the third time in the last two weeks.” Jonas just gave her a shrug and a weak smile as if to tell her that he would love it if it were that simple. He was right of course, it’s not like there was anywhere else on this ship that was much safer, Seriously! She knew the Accord cut corners when it came to safety but on a ship with scarcely thirty people she really shouldn’t be having to deal with these kinds of injuries on a daily basis. Though even this was better than being a slave in some Affini salt mine, or whatever the hell it was those things did with their prisoners.

“Doc?”

They had all heard the Stories, that if you get captured by one of those xeno’s you were never seen again, taken off as a slave or worse, Implanted with an Affini sapling that would burst out from your chest once it was done eating you alive from the inside out!

“Doc!”

Suddenly Sarah snapped back to reality, pulled out of her own thoughts by Jonas’s call. “Yes!? What is it? And I thought I told you not to call me that!” Sarah wasn’t one for spacing out like that, maybe today she was just feeling more off than usual, who knows? “I think you’ve put on enough bandages Sarah.” Jonas pointed downwards towards his hand and as Sarah followed his finger a hot flash of embarrassment raced across her body, her cheeks turning a cherry red. Apparently, while she had been spacing out she had kept idly wrapping Jonas’s hand in bandages and now it was so thoroughly cocooned that it could hardly even move. Turning her head to one side to try and hide some of her embarrassed blush Sarah managed to stammer out an answer. “Y..yeah you're p..probably right.” only to follow it up with a nervous laugh. “W…well you’re probably fine to go back on light duties for now, just….try not to use the hand.” Sarah swore she heard a chuckle leave Jonas’s lips as he stood up from the bed and made his way towards the door. “Thanks for the help Doc, you’re a lifesaver.” He gave a wave of his entombed hand and swiftly left the Med bay before Sarah could come back with a retort.

With her patient now out of the room Sarah took the time to regain her composure, she really couldn't understand why she had spaced out like that. She was usually so focused on what she was doing, especially when she was working on a patient. Jonas was lucky he just walked away with a few too many bandages on his hand, if she had been doing something more serious she could have- stop! Sarah took in a deep breath, she couldn’t allow herself to finish that thought, to get caught in that particular spiral. People were relying on her to be calm and clear headed, even if most of them were assholes they deserved a doc- medic that wasn’t stuck in her own head.

Maybe now would be a good time to give her augments a once over, that always calmed her down and her left arm felt like it was running uncomfortably hot at the moment. Sarah took in a sharp breath and braced herself, a spike of pain suddenly shooting across her body as nerve endings disconnected from wires and circuits, her mechanical arm coming loose. She lay her arm down on the table and grabbed a pair of goggles, putting them on as she set to work. All manner of tools emerged from her hand and forearm, micro welders, electric screwdrivers, laser cutters and pretty much anything else someone in her profession might need to build and repair cybernetics. It only took Sarah around two hours to locate and fix the problem, apparently one of the coolant tubes had gotten gunked up and was restricting the flow, a simple fix and one that she didn’t even need to dip into her rapidly diminishing supply of materials to perform. Adding to her growing good mood, by some miracle not a single patient came in during the time she was fixing her arm, maybe today was going to be a good day.

“All personnel to battle stations! Repeat! All personnel to battle stations!”

Or maybe not. Sirens blared throughout the ship, calling the crew to their stations as the ship moved to combat acceleration, disabling her mag boots Sarah hastily grabbed her arm and socketed it back into her shoulder, another spike of pain stabbing into her as nerves reattached themselves. Frantically racing around the room Sarah prepared trauma supplies, in all likelihood she was about to get a serious intake of patients and she needed to be ready. Muffled bangs could be heard as the ship's guns unleashed their first salvo, the kickback being felt throughout the entire hull. The Vengeance was a small ship but built to punch well above its weight, a spinal mounted rail gun the crown jewel in its armaments. Sarah waited, a silent dread falling over her, any minute now the first casualties would be coming in, broken bones, torn muscles and all manner of internal injuries, all of which she was expected to fix. What if it was too much, What if she ran out of supplies, what if there was just too many people for her to save, what if-

Suddenly the ship was shaken to its core, Sarah would have been knocked off her feet but instead she found herself floating in the room, along with most of her equipment. Clearly the acceleration that was providing the crew with some facsimile of gravity had stopped, leaving her in the grip of weightlessness. Activating her mag boots Sarah was quickly pulled back to the ground, now able to stand up despite the lack of gravity. Moving over to her terminal she flicked it on, trying to find out just what the hell was happening. 

Warning: Hull breach on Deck’s B and D. Xeno Intruders Detected. 

All the colour drained from Sarah's face as she stared at the simple warning flashing on screen. D deck, her deck. Well Sarah had no intention of fighting or dying for this stupid rebellion, nor did she plan on getting captured by the monsters that were now flooding onto the ship. Leaving the med bay Sarah could hear a crashing and banging from down the hall, steadily getting louder and louder as its source moved closer to her position. Thankfully the escape pod bay wasn't too far from her so she wasted no time, sprinting towards it as fast as her mechanical legs could carry her. Turning the corner she had finally made it to the pod bay, she frantically pressed the button to open the door, yet each time the door rejected her. Damn it! This must be some new protocol her beloved captain had installed to prevent desertion. Hearing the sound of the creature thundering towards her getting louder and louder Sarah knew she only had one option. Wedging her fingers into the cracks of the door Sarah prepared for what she needed to do next. To avoid putting strain on the parts of her body that weren’t mechanical, her arms and legs had to operate within restricted parameters, she was still strong but well within the limits of human capability. Right now however, she needs to be more than human. “Emergency safety override, code: Theta one!” At the utterance of the words the dormant power of her machine awoke from its slumber, servos roared to life and synthetic muscle pulsed with energy. Sarah pulled at the steel door with all her might, pain racing through her body, muscles in her chest and shoulders beginning to rip and tear at the strain her arms were putting them under. Despite this pain she could feel she was making progress, she could hear the steel of the door begin to buckle and bend, the gap in the door slowly getting wider and wider. Steam radiated from her arms as the cooling system struggled to keep up with the increased heat output, the points of contact between flesh and machine beginning to burn with intense pain until finally, Crash! The steel door relented, providing a hole large enough for Sarah to make her way through to the pod bay, she had done it, she was going to live!  

“Oh, there you are little Terran, I’ve been looking all over for you.”

The voice behind her was gentle and melodic yet it filled Sarah with an unimaginable sense of dread. She didn’t even get the chance to turn around to face her foe before thick vines had grasped her wrists and ankles, pulling her back towards her doom. Her captor turned her around as she was pulled in and Sarah was met with an awesome sight, A towering creature of vines and wood shaped like a human but clearly so much more, it’s hair was formed from hundreds of pink blossoms that flowed down it’s back, its eyes glowed and swirled with a lilac light that seemed to pulse and dance to an alien tune. “Now why did you go and run away, i would never hurt a cutie like you.” Its voice caressed Sarah's ears soft and soothing yet panic still gripped Sarah’s heart. She had to escape, she had to get away, she wouldn't let this monster turn her into some Xeno incubation chamber. She struggled with all her might, surely the strength and certainty of steel would win out over crude biomass, even when that biomass belonged to an alien horror like that one the stood before her. Yet the Xeno only laughed, Sarah’s arms and legs still locked in place by grasping vines. Sarah was now just inches away from her captor, Suspended at head height with the creature. She could feel its eyes drilling into her inspecting her body while thinner vines pulled up the trousers and sleeves of her jumpsuit only to run themselves along the steel plating of her arms and legs. Sarah had one last ditch idea to escape, if this thing really was like a plant maybe enough heat would drive it off. “Disable coolant systems, code: Delta nine.” Sarah continued her struggle, her limbs still firing on all cylinders, causing the heat to quickly build. Searing pain ripped through Sarah’s body, the heat building in her limbs burning the flesh at the points of contact, struggling to stay conscious with the pain Sarah looked at the plant monster, surely it must be feeling the heat just as badly as she was. But the creature barely even reacted, looking more surprised than in pain. “Oh no no, we can’t have you hurting yourself little Terran, i think it’s time for you to take a nap.” A flower tipped vine emerged from the monster's chest, a long thin needle protruded from the flowers centre, dripping with a fluid that seemed to almost glow a deep purple. In a flash the vine shot forwards, the needle jabbing into her neck like a snake biting its prey. Sarah felt the strange fluid enter her bloodstream, the searing pain in her body being washed away by a cool, calming sensation. A fog descended over her mind and her eyelids became heavy, soon it was all she could do to stay awake. She had to stay awake. She needed to stay awake. Must….escape. Must……live. As seconds passed every thought became harder, her grip on consciousness slowly slipping away until finally her eyes closed and she drifted off into sleep.