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D U L C E T
TASK FORCE NULL | EXEGOL | ?????
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Cordé had never liked the confinement of dropships, or shuttles, or anything less than a frigate because of how easy it was to touch one wall and then the next. It was like hurtling through an unbreathable, ice-cold vacuum in a ready-made coffin.
The ship’s automated response to this amount of damage was to make the passengers inside limp and soft — less resistant to the freefall. Sentients had a nasty habit of trying to protect themselves, and often going stiff and trying to react worsened the blow. The ship’s manufacturers knew this.
Over the general comm, Cordé heard the countdown,
30..29...28..and checked the belt that crossed her torso. Then she checked Sheb’s next to her, arguing with him for less than thirty seconds, that he needed to put his on too.
...14...13...12....Because she said so. Because she was the medic.
....3....2...At the twenty-ninth second, he relented and obeyed, just as the tech of their transport took over.
..1
What felt like a dozen needles stuck into their backs through the fabric of their suits. Cordé felt her heart shudder and chemical bands of iron grip her brain. Her spine went dead cold, and her face flushed. Reflexively, she gripped Sheb’s hand to keep him from flailing about and to keep herself from spiralling into blind panic.
“V, grab his other hand!” Cordé, Sheb, and Verin on one side of the shuttle; On the other side, L’iit, Jyon and Kiyen.
Furtively, she glanced about the dimly lit containment, taking inventory of the faces. Everyone looked like they were having a not-good time. Her vision was starting to relax and tighten all at the same time. Short, clipped breaths pulsed through her lungs, throat and face. She chose to look straight ahead to reduce strain, and kept her eyes on their assigned demolitions expert, L’iit.
Loud and crunching, the piece of unholy earth that spiked through their ship’s side and killed L’iit tore through the entire opposite side from Cordé. One moment, the explosionist was there; the next, his head was gone from the Anakin’s apple up. Arterial blood pumped out in a red cloud, pulled into two thin lines, and whirled to the savage and gruesome line that cored through the side. Two others tried to unstrap themselves, and avoid the same fate, but — Cordé heard herself scream as the world around her narrowed, her peripheral vision all stars and darkness.
*
For a few moments, Cordé didn’t open her eyes. The darkness behind her lids was bright and active and mildly nauseating.
The second wave of pharmaceuticals exploded in her bloodstream. She was hot and limp, her veins filled with syrup. Her hands were shaking. The hand she’d gripped tightly once was limp in hers. She was nauseated. Her body felt like she was operating her flesh from a distance, and she didn’t know how much of it was the drugs
Deep, warning, crimson red, the ship’s lights flickered on and off. Their containment was filled with a high-pitched whistle, and a klaxon was sounding. She could barely hear it, the pressure of the drop felt like it had blown her ear drums, that or her heartbeat was pounding too loudly.
The shuttle was on its side, Cordé’s side must have been against the ground because there were uncomfortable punctures in her back. There was a shooting pain from her spleen when she moved.
When she opened her eyes, headless L’iit’s limbs were dangling stupidly from his seat. The spaces next to him were empty, the seats ripped out through the tear in the hull. Jyon and Kiyen were nowhere to be seen.
“Sheb, V!” She fought with her restraints, planting her feet against the edge of her chair and struggling to shed her belt and sit up. There was blood on her hands when she tried to unstrap, and she couldn’t tell, or care, if it was hers or L’iit’s.
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F O E S | THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE MAW |
F R I E N D S | GA | NJO | SIA |
Verin
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