The air was thick, full of scents that made her stomach churn, an unfamiliar soup far removed from the relatively sterile and recycled atmosphere she was used to. Her bones felt heavy, muscles struggling against some unfathomable weight that threatened to snap her frame with every move. Light, not from artificial overheads but natural photons from the heart of the Sol system, pummeled her retinas even in the evening sky she could identify overhead.
Something wet lapped at her boots. Mustering what little strength she had, the Martian vessel wheezed in pain as she brought her head up, vision filled with stars, to come face-to-face with the endless expanse of an ocean reflecting the lavender of the sky above. She was laying in a pit of sand, a brief survey showing splintered metal, fragments of hull, smoking drive cones, and the twisted remains of her turret. There was no sign of her landing ships, and not a soul stirred within.
Her stomach revolted as she tried to raise herself further, brittle bones born in space refusing to hold her weight as she was sent crashing back to the wet sand beneath. A cry so hoarse with agony, it couldn't escape the filter of her helmet's microphone.
Before pain took her once more, she caught sight of a figure floating above her, long, silvery hair billowing in the wind.
It was saying something, but the world went dark before she heard a sound.
"-Don't have the facilities to treat her. I'm different and can be handled by normal repair ships for the most part, but she's from a place where the rules mattered. I apologize for leaving her here in your care, but you're the only one who can-"
The unfamiliar voice roused her from the dark, though when she opened her eyes, it still greeted her. Her awareness of the voice dimmed, drowned out by pain with the heavy thumps of combat boots punctuating her migraine. A peculiar sting of rubbing alcohol greeted her nose, which could only mean one thing.
Her voice cracked, lips dry as she tried to call out. "Is anyone there...?"