On Our Own [Part 1]

Posted on Mon Mar 10th, 2025 @ 9:02am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Chiyomi Anzai & Ensign Miyoko Misaka

1,241 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Indivisible
Location: Indeterminate
Timeline: Indeterminate

Chiyomi never even felt herself hit the ground.

The moment she witnessed the Elachi's lanky gray finger pulling back on the trigger, time slowed to a crawl; milliseconds played out in minutes as her brain raced with the possibility that the Kaiser wouldn't have enough time to react. She made a decision in that moment, and though it was only likely to buy the Kaiser a few seconds, if she played her cards just right, a few seconds was all Commander Takahashi needed to get off a quick shot. Perhaps she'd never even know if her sacrifice had payed off, if the Kaiser would still emerge from this ordeal alive and rally her people against the Confederate scum. She'd never know if the Confederates were defeated, and whether or not that guileless, four-eyed bastard would get his due comeuppance, rotting in a pauper's grave while his ignoble legacy was lost the annals of time. But perhaps her biggest regret leaving this plane of existence was that she didn't have the chance to say goodbye to her family, especially Enriko.

She felt a brief stinging sensation as the disruptor bolt made contact with her back, and then everything went black as her lifeless body tumbled end-over-end in the darkened abyss. She pondered to herself if this was what death felt like, and her time on this plane was up, when she felt her body enveloped in a warm, wet sensation. gradually, she became aware of a pale green light filtering through her shut eyelids. Cautiously, she attempted to open one, only to be met with a rush of fluid and particles into her eye socket. In her surprise, she reflexively opened her mouth, and her lungs began to fill with fluids. She panicked and attempted to swim up- or, at least the direction that she presumed was up- only to bonk her head against some smooth metal surface. She attempted to turn around and swim the other way, but there wasn't enough room for her to rotate her body. In desperation, she pounded her fist against a random surface- she didn't know what it was, nor did she care; the only thing her brain was telling her at that exact moment was to get out.

However, once she had calmed down and ascertained that the surface she had been pressing up against was too firm to give out on brute strength alone, she decided that she was going to need to approach this from a different angle. She opened her eyes again, fighting back the stinging sensation as her orbital cavities began to fill with a mixture of dirty green liquid and spore-like particles. Her vision was cloudy at first, but once things managed to come into focus, she managed to discern three points of interest;

1.) She was, indeed, still alive.

2.) She was being held in some kind of tube in a small, dimly-lit laboratory; across from her, she was able to make out two additional tubes, the occupants of which were humanoid and- at least judging on the basis of their rough proportions- female. Anything else beyond that was difficult to make out.

3. There was a very small air pocket at the top of the tube; big enough for her to stick her nose out of and grab a quick breath, but far too small to accommodate her eyes, so rough, blurry shapes were going to have to make do for the time being.

As she felt her way around the tube attempting to find some kind of emergency release mechanism, she observed a large rectangle off to her right suddenly growing brighter, which, coupled with a distorted hissing noise, led her to believe it was some kind of door opening. Quickly realizing that whomever had opened said door likely had nefarious intentions, she closed her eyes and relaxed her posture, hoping that she'd be able to pass herself off as unconscious. It seemed to do the trick, as the next thing she knew, she heard an alarm blaring over her head as the water level began to recede. Even still, she couldn't let onto the fact that she was fully aware of her surroundings, and as gravity began to take over, she let herself naturally collapse in a heap at the bottom of the tube. She heard a hiss and felt a rush of air as the tube opened, felt a pair of lanky hands wrapping around her wrists...

And that was when she decided to open her eyes.

As she was pulled up, she quickly slung them over her back, taking whatever had been holding her by surprise and sending them toppling to the ground. Wiping the fluid from her eyes, she could finally take full stock of the situation: She was indeed in a lab; the occupants of the other two tubes were most definitely female, and- much to her horror- faces that she recognized; the first was that of Fre'Da Stokh, the Kaiser's advisor; the second, to her alarm, was none other than Ensign Misaka, which hinted at a very strong possibility that the Myogi had also somehow been attacked; and laying at her feet were two very confused-looking Elachi scientists.

"Bet you weren't expecting that, huh?" she coughed, a trickle of fluid running down her chin. "I learned to hold my own against punks like you on the streets of New Venice; you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you think you're taking me alive..."

One of the Elachi scientists reached into what looked like a pocket in its labcoat and drew from it what looked like a syringe.

"Oh, no you don't!" Chiyomi exclaimed as she grabbed the Elachi's arm and twisted it sharply, forcing him to release the syringe. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the other Elachi making a lunge for her; thinking quickly, she swung the first scientist into the second's path, causing them both to be flung up against the bulkhead. One of them attempted to get back up, but was rewarded for his efforts with a swift kick to the face, slamming his head back into the bulkhead. He collapsed on the ground and started twitching violently before going still, almost as if he had experienced some kind of seizure.

Still sitting against the bulkhead in a daze, the remaining Elachi pressed something in its pocket which caused an alarm to start going off before pulling a syringe and getting back to its feet, intent to subdue the subject or die trying.

"Shit!" Chiyomi cursed as she realized that she hadn't been careful enough, and it would likely only be a matter of minutes before more Elachi arrived and overwhelmed her. She quickly stepped to the side before delivering a swift karate chop to the back of the scientist's neck, taking him by surprise and causing him to accidentally fling the syringe across the room. He attempted to turn back around, but before he could recover, Chiyomi had jumped up and slammed her foot into the back of his head, sending him crashing to the ground, where he also began twitching violently before going completely still.

After taking a few seconds to catch her breath, Chiyomi knelt down and examined both scientists for a pulse.

Nothing; they were dead.

To be continued...

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