Corporal Laen burst awake with a choking gasp of cold air that stung her throat. She spent a few moments fighting to regain her bearings, her head swimming and her senses overwhelmed with aching pain and freezing cold. She was surrounded by only darkness and silence, completely disoriented. For those first few moments, she felt as if trapped in a nightmare, alone, utterly helpless, as if the Emperor himself had abandoned her. 

Then her senses started to return to her through the disorienting fog. Every part of her hurt. She felt nauseous, but managed to fight back the urge to vomit. The small amount of clothing she still wore was soaked through, sticking to her skin like ice, chilling her to the bone. At least it numbed the pain slightly. Throne, her limbs felt so heavy. 

[i]Think...think...[/i] Even that hurt. [i]Where am I? A ship? Yes, a ship.[/i] [i]How did I get here? [/i]The throbbing pain in her head made it so hard to focus. She was shivering uncontrollably, her hands and feet felt lifeless. She tried to move them, nothing but stinging pain. Then she realized why. Panic flashed through her for a moment and she pulled at her bonds again frantically, serving only to dig the bindings into harder her flesh. Even at her full strength she would have had little hope of freeing herself. She steeled herself. She was a Cadian, a soldier in the Imperial Guard, a survivor of unimaginable horrors. She could get out of this, she just needed to think.

[color=8882be]“Tell me. Who are you, where were you going, and what are you doing aboard this ship?”[/color]

She lifted her head to face the source of the voice, straining to focus on his words. “I-Ines...Corporal Inessa Laen.” She managed despite everything, forcing herself to keep the pain out of her voice. 

She focused, hard, slowly realizing she did not know the answers to the rest of his questions. It started to come back to her after a few moments, being separated from her unit on special assignment, staying aboard a naval voidship, this voidship apparently, with her own quarters. Everything had been going well until...until it hadn't. Now she was here.