Henri remained silent as the bleak, uninhabitable landscape rolled by during their drive. Rubbing her neck unconsciously, she couldn't help but think back to the grim site of the headless corpse they had left behind. It's not that she was afraid of death, not even one as horrifically violent as that, but to be forgotten so easily? She grimaced. Reaver's body would remain there now, never buried or burnt, the people who had sent him here would never acknowledge his death and half of the remaining crew had likely already forgotten his face. Henri wouldn't go that way, she refused. She clapped her hands together with renewed determination as they approached the cave. 

[color=LightSkyBlue]"Alright!"[/color] She called as they disembarked, [color=LightSkyBlue]"Let's get this artifact and get out of here before anyone else dies."[/color] 

The mouth of the cavern welcomed the group with the pale, bloodless bodies of the scientists which littered the floor. And in the centre, the Artifact waited. Somehow threatening in its silence. Henri approached it cautiously and, seemingly possessed, brought a metallic finger up to stroke one of its faces. As she did, the material seemed to breath, expanding and contracting until cracks appeared and it glowed a bright, hot red.

[i][b][center][h3]BANG!![/h3][/center][/b][/i]

Henri was flung backwards by the force of the explosion, left on her back staring up at the roof of the cavern. It's great curved windows showing the stars and metallic beams looked suspiciously like the deck of [i]The Gauntlet[/i], the flagship of The Black Stars. The ship she had traveled on as a child. 

She felt numb. 

"Henri! HENRI!" Someone was calling her name with a desperate kind of fear laced in their voice. Surely none of the crew could sound like that?

[color=LightSkyBlue]"Daddy?"[/color] Henri found herself whimpering with the voice of a sixteen year old girl. 

A familiar face appeared above her, kind grey eyes set into worn, wrinkled skin. Her father smiled down at her sadly, "I'm here kid. Hang in there."

[color=LightSkyBlue]"What's happening?"[/color] She asked groggily. She was just so [i]tired[/i].

"Missiles got through the shields."

[color=LightSkyBlue]"Who-"[/color]

"Shh, it doesn't matter. Just try and stay awake for me."

[i]Something's not right here. Something's not right.[/i] She thought, trying to lift her head. When she finally does, the first thing she saw was the blood. She wondered how she could have missed it before. It had soaked everything; her clothes, her hair, her skin. It covered her father's shaking hands where he was trying to hold her. Next comes the pain. The left side of her body was burnt, that she was sure of, the skin crackled and hissed in her ears like a pig on a spit. But her left arm and both legs, she's not as sure. The pain is indescribable. 

The last thing she can remember is screaming. 

Henri expects to come to in the med bay of [i]The Gauntlet [/i]but when she open her eyes, drained and disorientated, she is standing in the workshop of [i]Constance[/i] instead, another ship belonging to the The Black Stars. This old boat had replaced [i]The Gauntlet[/i] after the attack that had taken her arm and legs. Speaking of which.

[color=LightSkyBlue]"Please, daddy."[/color] Henri pleaded, pouting a little for effect. She had been begging for better prostheses for weeks now, her childish insistence slowly wearing him down. 

"You've had enough [i]enhancements[/i] Henrietta." Lars said firmly, although his words lacked any real conviction. He was bent over an old engine part of the ship, hands and face greasy as he attempted to fix it, "You're a teenage girl, not a terrifying cyborg."

[color=LightSkyBlue]"But I could be. You're stifling my development."[/color] Henri sighed dramatically, [color=LightSkyBlue]"And, frankly, I think you're being sexist. Right now you say that teenage girls can't become dangerous machines but the next thing you know I'll be expected to do the cooking or-"[/color]

Lars chuckled, "I don't think there's any fear of that, I've tasted your cooking. Get out of here kid. We can talk about it later."

His tone was not harsh, in all the year Henri could remember hearing that voice it never had been, but it left no room for more complaint. She blew him a mocking kiss as she left the workshop. As she walked away, deja vu rolled over her weakly like an ebbing wave.[i] I've had that conversation before, haven't I? Walked away like this before?[/i]

Henri turned to look back down the hall. Outside of the door, the Artifact hovered in it's menacing silence. Like before, it began to throb and glow as it moved into the workshop towards her father. 

[b][i]No.[/i][/b]

"DAD!" She screamed. 

But it was too late. 

They had told her later that the part Lars Jorison been working on had been unstable, had blown without warning and killed him instantly. An underwhelming and forgettable death. But, despite remembering this, in that moment she could only think to run towards the flames, screaming for her father. Just as the heat began to lick at her, skin and metal heating and warping, the flames died away. 

She was back in the cavern, her desperate cries bouncing from its walls.