Star Wars: Crash on Kessel

Chapter 05: Withdrawals

Rand awoke on the floor, having unknowingly rolled off his bed sometime earlier. The shakes he'd been experiencing were gone, as were the painful headaches and dizziness. Exhaustion weighed him down, and it felt as if his skeleton had grown needle-sharp spines outward into his muscles, making him hurt at even the thought of moving.

A groan escaped him as he forced himself into a sitting position. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head one way and then the other. Joint by joint, he worked on each muscle group, flexing to loosen them up. The process was agony, but he knew it had to be done if he was going to check on the status of his ship and crew.

It took more than an hour before Rand was satisfied he'd limbered up enough to leave his quarters. Pushing away from the floor and using various pieces of furniture for support, he managed to stand. With the dizziness gone, he was much more steady, and he paused a moment to take a few deep breaths and be certain he wasn't about to relapse.

When none of the previous symptoms returned, Rand headed for the door. His first stop was the nearby cockpit where he checked the system displays and sensor screens. Repairs were well underway, and it made Rand pause for a moment and consider how long he must've been unconscious in order for Walthen to be so far along with his work.

Ignoring the possible lost time, Rand left the cockpit for the medical room. It took him twice as long as normal to reach the compartment as he walked much slower with a stride half the length it was usually. Having only just recovered, Rand wanted to take things easy in order to give his body a chance to rest and recover from its ordeal.

When the door opened to the medical room, Rand was startled with the amount of blood he found on the walls and cabinets. Miyari was nowhere to be seen, and Voz lay on the floor, covered in cuts, bruises, and a blanket of glittering glass fragments.

"Voz!" Rand exclaimed. Trying to avoid touching any of the blood or broken glass, Rand knelt beside Voz and checked his vitals.

Still breathing, the co-pilot was only partially conscious. Putting Voz's arm over his shoulder, Rand helped him up and onto the empty medical bed.

"What happened?" Rand questioned. "Where's Miyari?"

"When you mentioned getting some sleep, it gave me an idea," Voz said weakly. "I decided to induce a coma on Miyari and let her sleep through withdrawal."

"What about the adrenaline in her system?" Rand questioned.

"I bypassed her heart and sent her blood through a filtration system," Voz explained. "I was able to screen out the chemicals and adrenaline, but I had to put some back in in order to gradually reduce her levels or the withdrawals alone would've killed her."

"What went wrong?" Rand prompted before asking again, "Where is Miyari?"

"The process was almost complete when she regained consciousness," Voz replied, closing his eyes while continuing to talk. "It would seem the dust is addictive because she started demanding more. I tried to put her under with a sedative, but the stimulant nature of the dust neutralized it before it could take effect. Once she realized I wasn't going to give her any more of the dust, she went wild and broke loose. I couldn't stop her."

"If she's looking for another dose, she'll probably head back outside," Rand concluded.

"Be careful," Voz warned, straining as he propped himself up on one elbow. "She's not thinking straight and won't recognize you as a friend."

"Stay here," Rand instructed. "I'm going after her."

"She trashed the blood filters I was using," Voz mentioned with a gesture to the red on the walls and the broken glass on the floor. "I think I could rig up something if you can get her back here."

"Miyari passed out the last time she was exposed," Rand stated. "We can only hope the same thing happens again."

"Her immune system was severely weakened fighting off the dust from the previous incident," Voz cautioned. "She might not survive a second encounter so soon after the first."

Rand nodded his understanding and left the medical room. Still wearing his space suit, he marched straight to the airlock. The inner doors closed behind him and the air was siphoned out before the outer hatch pulled back.

Stepping out onto the airless surface of the asteroid, Rand ignored the flickering lights of distant stars and the spectacular view of the numerous black holes as he was focused on only one thing, locating Miyari. Unfortunately, she found him first, dropping down from a position above him.

Having climbed the outer hull of the ship, Miyari had been in a perfect ambush position, and she carried a jagged metal piece from the hull like a knife in one hand. The improvised weapon sliced into Rand's suit and dug into his shoulder. The material of the suit was reinforced, so the metal didn't cut too deeply or create a very large hole, but an alert instantly went off as his suit detected the breach.  Pain screamed through him, but it wasn't his only concern. In addition to his wounded shoulder, his suit was now leaking its precious supply of air.

Rand managed to push Miyari away and hit her wrist hard enough to remove her weapon, but she spun around and attacked him unarmed. She lunged forward with her right hand in an open palmed strike toward his helmet, and Rand dodged to the side. Miyari changed tactics the moment she missed. Angling her wrist, she snared hold of his spacesuit at the shoulder, pulling him forward while she brought up her right knee into his stomach. She brought her leg back down in a position behind his as she reared back and struck him across the chest with her right forearm. Because of her leg behind him, the force of the impact caused him to trip and fall over backwards.

Miyari was relentless, chasing after him in an attempt to beat him to death before he could get up again. Rolling over, Rand scooped up a handful of the asteroid dust and hurled it toward Miyari, striking her in the facemask of her helmet and temporarily blinding her. With no time to lose, Rand grabbed one of the heavier pieces of broken hull plating within reach and launched it in her direction. Her gloved hand wiped away the dust from her helmet in time to see the metal plate coming but not in time to dodge. She was hit full in the chest and sent tumbling backwards.

Rand's victory was short lived as a second alert sounded in his suit, warning him the loss of atmospheric pressure was becoming critical. He had to get back to the ship before he ran out of air.