My dream self said "You will need to shoot me."
I can see it clearly through the haze and fog. For all of her will, Alice did exactly that. I watch in slow motion - again - as she draws her Ruger. Its a slug thrower. I already have the path mapped out.
My training is kicking in, my body has three paths it could take: up her left side, disarming her, turning the weapon back on her, just as the slug leaves the chamber. It is not the first time someone shot at me - given my profession, it will not be the last.
The second option has me simply stop the slug in mid air, demonstrating what true power looks like. The darkness I am swimming in screams out its approval of that step. But, while I have given myself to it, there was no point to this particular show. No, the third one.
The third option needed to be taken. The third one proves a point more than stopping a slug or disarming an assaulter. The path was mapped, he was moving a bit late as the slug left the chamber, so a gentle nudge of the Force put the incoming slug and him on the perfect path.
The last things I see are my followers removing my personal effects; the waif of a girl chewing on my corpse, and, the most delicious sight of all: the fear in the eyes of the shooter when she realizes what has transpired.
Then, I am here. The soup of blackness, reliving the last few moments enhanced by the Force, realized by my training and experience. As I sleep - I cannot call it anything else - My mind ponders options, reviews the facts. I have had to do this all too many times. I will get lectured by the Admiral, no doubt. lani will of course remark in her way.
But, everything has a purpose. Even death.
The pull has become so familiar now, I know not to fight it. My heartbeat is picking up, becoming faster as my body begins to process the chemical injections required to bring me out of this. The fog begins to quickly leave me as I feel the chemical solution I am in as it is beginning to rush away from me, draining out. Gravity takes over and I fall to the ground, coughing, my new lungs taking in the air for the first time.
One of the girls assigned comes to me with a towel to wrap my body. I begin to hear the heartbeats of others. I am home. My senses are coming back to me faster now, faster than they ever did. And I know...
I. Live.
I can see it clearly through the haze and fog. For all of her will, Alice did exactly that. I watch in slow motion - again - as she draws her Ruger. Its a slug thrower. I already have the path mapped out.
My training is kicking in, my body has three paths it could take: up her left side, disarming her, turning the weapon back on her, just as the slug leaves the chamber. It is not the first time someone shot at me - given my profession, it will not be the last.
The second option has me simply stop the slug in mid air, demonstrating what true power looks like. The darkness I am swimming in screams out its approval of that step. But, while I have given myself to it, there was no point to this particular show. No, the third one.
The third option needed to be taken. The third one proves a point more than stopping a slug or disarming an assaulter. The path was mapped, he was moving a bit late as the slug left the chamber, so a gentle nudge of the Force put the incoming slug and him on the perfect path.
The last things I see are my followers removing my personal effects; the waif of a girl chewing on my corpse, and, the most delicious sight of all: the fear in the eyes of the shooter when she realizes what has transpired.
Then, I am here. The soup of blackness, reliving the last few moments enhanced by the Force, realized by my training and experience. As I sleep - I cannot call it anything else - My mind ponders options, reviews the facts. I have had to do this all too many times. I will get lectured by the Admiral, no doubt. lani will of course remark in her way.
But, everything has a purpose. Even death.
The pull has become so familiar now, I know not to fight it. My heartbeat is picking up, becoming faster as my body begins to process the chemical injections required to bring me out of this. The fog begins to quickly leave me as I feel the chemical solution I am in as it is beginning to rush away from me, draining out. Gravity takes over and I fall to the ground, coughing, my new lungs taking in the air for the first time.
One of the girls assigned comes to me with a towel to wrap my body. I begin to hear the heartbeats of others. I am home. My senses are coming back to me faster now, faster than they ever did. And I know...
I. Live.