There is a certain solemnity to space - it is peaceful, tranquil, silent. It is a place for contemplation, for exploration, for study. It is the ultimate destination, the final frontier, the last obstacle that must be overcome.

But space can never be overcome. It always wins in the end.

In the end, everything that enters the cold of space is doomed to one day be like it - cold and silent, lifeless, but also full of life and ever open to new horizons.

Dash looked at the oxygen generator with disgust scrawled all over her face.

But there wasn't a choice.

She took the folding knife and cut the main tube, barely wider than her mouth. She stared at it for some time, the wiggling nozzle and the jet of cloudy oxygen that came out.

It would hurt. It would hurt and she was sure of it.

As Gilda's floatpack maneuvered her against the wall, Dash swallowed hard and held her breath.

Then, with all the force her weakened muscles could muster, she stuffed the oxygen-rich tube down her throat.

In the end, everything that goes Faster than Light is doomed to one day die.

Clouds of oxygen came out of her mouth, and she desperately tried to cough.

But there was no mouthpiece, no regulator, nothing to help her breathe. The emergency tank she had been living off was nearly empty. There was no other way.

She tried to suppress the gag reflex but it did not work - the remnants of her poor meal came flying out through every orfice it could, including her nose.

It hurt. It hurt but at least she wouldn't die.

Trying desperately to relax, Dash inhaled, feeling the cool oxygen flood her atrophied lungs.

In the end, despite our best efforts, the void of space will eventually consume all who dare set foot or hoof within it.

Dash tried to scream, but the ship, broken and scarred as it was, didn't have an atmosphere with which to scream into.

Space is a dangerous place - filled with death and destruction around every corner. It is thinly veiled behind its beauty, but is nevertheless there. Always, no matter where, space will try and kill you, either by removing your ability to breathe or by destroying everything you've ever loved.

No matter what, space will tear apart those who venture into it.

Dash was hungry. But if she removed the tube from her mouth there would be no air to breathe.

She would rather starve than suffocate. SO she left the tube in her throat, and tried to think of better things.

The only memory she could catch in her dream catcher was that of food. Food that, woefully, she could only dream about.

At the very least the tube kept her lungs filled.

Space is a beautiful monster. No matter the circumstance, it will always try to kill you.

The oxygen generator was exposed to the void.

It was so very, very cold.

Even when the system's sun illuminated the decimated room, Dash felt little more than total numbness. It hurt.

It hurt, and Dash could not stop it from hurting. It hurt.

Dash took another deep breath and tried not to think about it, but she shivered anyway.

In the distance, behind the gas planet that the Kestrel had been orbiting for months, something came to a halt.

It was rectangular, with exposed struts and pylons. It was much larger than the Kestrel.

Space is filled with danger, but there are those who know better. Space has masters- those who, after centuries of torment and torture, finally took the reins away from space.

I'm so sorry I left you behind.

I'm so, so very sorry.

You did nothing wrong. You didn't deserve this.

You didn't deserve to die.

I'm so, so very sorry.

Space, and time, bring eventual end to those born into it. But, sometimes, there will awaken one who can survive the wrath of space and the lashes of time.

The ship drew closer.

Dash was barely breathing; she was so hungry.

She had had nothing to eat for the past twelve days - or was it thirteen?

Lights came on from within the metal shell. Beacons flew across the wreckage, looking for elements of value.

It found nothing. Nothing but a few dead bodies, untouched by decomposition due to the nature of their death.

The ship prepared a few body bags - it dispatched two crewmen to clean things up.

But she was still alive.

Sometimes, when all hope is lost, there is one who still holds on.