Lost in Space - OC insert

"Holy shi-"

Saffron could hardly breathe. She was panicking. Stop, I need to stop. Breathe, in and out, in and out. Another blast sent the Resolute shaking. The girl fell to her knees, one hand on the wall as her vision blurred with tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes. The blaring alarm and flashing red lights did nothing to help her ever-beating heart. Saffron put a trembling hand to her chest, clutching at the tight fabric of her orange and blue undersuit. She could feel her irregular breathing, the panic causing her body to shake. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the alarm and smell of burning metal. Instead, she focused on the calm automated feminine voice speaking behind the alarm, trying to ground herself into action instead of staying frozen in fear, doing absolutely nothing productive.

"Please head to your Jupiter immediately. Prepare for evacuation. Please head to your Jupiter immediately. Prepare for evacuation." Saffron stayed focused on the repeating voice until her heart rate came back to a reasonable pace for her given situation. Was there even a "normal" heart rate for when someone was on a ship that was being actively attacked? If there is, did they have someone get attacked and monitor their vitals?

Saffron took a deep breath in, refocusing herself, before opening her eyes and staring straight ahead of her, her gaze filled with short-lived confidence. She stood on shaky knees and started running in the direction of her Jupiter. She prayed that her dad was already waiting for her at the docking bay. She lifted her left arm as she ran, switching her radio on. Before she could try and contact her dad, an alien screeching forced its way out of her comms. Damn, it. She cursed.

She could do nothing but keep running with blind faith, hoping her dad had already made it, and praying that she wouldn't run into whatever caused the screaming she heard all around her, echoing throughout the metal walls of the Resolute. When she was out of breath, fear starting to crawl back through her spine, she heard one scream that sent shivers down her arms and caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand like pins. She didn't know that she would be hearing that scream in her dreams for a long time to come.

Saffron skidded to a stop and looked down at the right intersection. When her panicked eyes focused, all she saw was the body lying on the ground. A figure she all but recognized. How could she not recognize the man who raised her? The man that was the entire reason she was on this wonderful damn ship in the first place.

Her breathing was getting out of control again. Her eyes went wide, silent tears now flowing freely down her flushed cheeks, but she hardly noticed them. Everything seemed to go quiet and fade into the background as she stumbled over to her father lying on the burned floor of the Resolute. She fell to her knees once more, her work-worn hands hovering over his body, not knowing what to do. Everything stood still. Time, sound, her own breathing. Saffron could tell she was sad, more than sad. She could feel gut-wrenching despair, the hopelessness that came with the unknown. She was alone. But as she sat there, looking at her father's lifeless eyes, staring at the wall with a look of fear that would last until his body decayed, she couldn't feel anything. Numbness spread through her body, leaving her fingers tingling as they hovered over her father's back. Saffron's glazed eyes drifted over the jacket her dad was wearing, her fingers lightly brushing off some of the dust, her mind deeming that an important task to worry about at this moment.

She started to reach for the sleeves when she heard a noise pierce through the muted sound of the bubble she started to bury herself in, a noise that would be joining her father's dying scream in her nightmares. Metal on metal, scraping down the wall of the Resolute. That noise seemed to force her back to her senses as her survival instincts kicked in, adrenaline taking the place of all the emotions she was forcing herself not to feel at that moment. She leaned forward and rapidly ripped the jacket off her father. His I.D. tag that was sewn into the sleeve glittered in the red light of the alarm as she shoved her arms through the jacket. Saffron had to drag herself to her feet as she stood and ran, leaving her father on the ground, alone. Saffron lifted her arm and ran the sleeve of her father's jacket over her eyes, drying her tears.