Bullseye On Her Back

[Rue Wydown 0]

There were two ways this was going to go down. Either the compression wave was going to get her, or the shrapnel would shred her to pieces. No question she was going to die. The misconception was that it would happen in a big ball of flame. The explosion was only the visual eye candy of a bomb. Nope, it would death by either pressure or projectile.

 

Question was could she keep the others from going out with a bang too?

 

 

It was not the first time in her life that Cdr Wydown was grateful for 20+ of yoga practice. Standing in one place, both feet planted firmly in place, breathing slowly while not moving so much of as an inch or displacing her body mass wasn’t that hard at all. Make her maintain the Bird of Paradise pose for much more than twenty seconds, now that was a challenge.

 

Perhaps that’s what accounted for her unusual blasé reaction to being told she’s standing on a bomb. Or maybe she was just trying to keep the others from panicking themselves? Because, other than trying to figure out the motives of the weapon creators, that's what Wydown was truly concerned about. Keeping them safe and out of the line fire when she did go boom.

 

 

Rue exhaled slowly, softly, and then began the slow inhale as she watched Matsumura examining the spiteful little welcoming package. Seriously? Wasn’t this overkill? Why bother with booby traps in the first place? Why not just blow the damn place up in the first place and not leave anything for nosy people like, well, us, to poke their noses about?

 

Did these bloody idjits really think that blowing her (and her away team at this rate) was really going to stop them from pursuing this mission? Hell, if anything, it was like poking a hornet’s nest with stick, stirring it up and then flinging at the bullseye the Universe conveniently painted to your back.

 

But maybe that was the point?

 

Awh, hell. Another wild goose chase? The Universe had just given Rue notice: They were no longer on speaking terms. Well, at least getting blown up would spare her from hearing the sing-songy ‘I told you so’ from her ex-husband. Fantastic.