Fire & Flame

Arrival

They say, you don't dream while in cryo. That certainly isn't true. Well, for Ronnie at least. She wouldn't have full on dreams per say, more so that she would get images. Flashes of places that seemed too good to be real. Dense forrests, an open ocean that is dotted with islands every so often, and vast plains with animals grazing on fresh grass. Waking up from cryo however, that is whole other story.

Waking from cryo, Ronnie had the worst case of cotton mouth she's ever had. Her body was sore, her head hurt. Her eyes, despite being closed for close to six years, felt dryer than her mouth. It hurt to blink, and Ronnie wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.

"You've been in cryo for five years, nine months, and twenty-two days. You will be hungry, you will be weak. if you feel nausea, please use the sacks...."

Ronnie rolled her eyes. She pushed herself away from the cryo bed, aiming herself in the direction of her storage locker. She grabbed her stuff, and headed to the changing stalls. The switch from zero gravity to artificial gravity felt weird. There wasn't any nausea, but there was dizziness.

"Reminder to all incoming personnel, there is a safety briefing once we reach the ground."

Once she was changed, Ronnie made her way to the Valkyrie ship. She found a seat, and strapped herself in. It didn't take long for the seats to fill up.

"Alright, ladies and gents. I'm gonna say this once, if you can't remember what I said, that's on you. If you're in the science division, you report to SciOps. If you're not in SciOps, you report to SecOps, aka security. Am I clear?"

Choruses of 'Yes sir!' pierced the air.

"Alright. Buckle up if you haven't already. The turbulence is a mother fucker."

The man wasn't kidding. The turbulence was horrible. It wasn't like anything Ronnie had experienced. She ended up gripping the hand of the person next to her, during the descent. Once the ship landed, she strapped her exo-pack to her face. Ensuring that she wouldn't suffocate to death.

"Harnesses off, packs on! You have one minute, let's go!"

Ronnie rolled her eyes. She knew what she needed to do. She wasn't a child.

"When the ramp goes down, go directly into the base. Do not stop. Go straight inside, wait for my mark."

"Nah, really? I'll just stand in the middle of the path." Ronnie grumbled sarcastically, causing the man sitting next to her to snort.

She slung her bag over her shoulder, narrowly missing the wall behind her. The groan of the metal door, hiss of the hydraulics, the first sliver sunlight was like a treasure finally being revealed to the public.

"Go, go, go, go! Get outta there, keep moving! Let's go, let's go! Go straight inside!"

The first thing Ronnie noticed was how much space the base was taking up. There were no trees within the fence line, no shrubs. The place looked like a damn processing factory. It looked more depressing than back home! As she entered the base, she was confused almost immediately. She looked at the signs, trying to figure out where SciOps was.

"You heading to the science division?"

Ronnie turned to her right to see a guy she was sitting next to on the Valkyrie.

"Yeah. I tried looking at the directions here, but I can't make heads or tails of 'em. You wouldn't by chance happen to know the way, would you?"

The guy snorted, shaking his head.

"God no. But we do have a safety briefing to go to."

Ronnie groaned, dropped her head back in frustration.