For I Have Sinned

Her newly-promoted replacement science lead squares his shoulders and clears his throat. It’s a thick sound, one of tears being swallowed.

“Da, let us do Dr. Grace proud as he does us proud out there in the stars,” he says, half to himself. Then Dimitri gets back to work.

Stratt excuses herself to her next meeting. But instead of steering towards her office and the waiting Zoom call, she makes a pit stop in the ladies’ room and locks the door behind her.

She bends over the sink, breathing slow and deliberate. It takes her longer than usual to regulate. The collar of her shirt is damp from how much cold water she has splashed on her face. She looks up at her reflection in the tiny, dingy mirror.

Her eyes are hollow. Empty.

“Get yourself together, woman,” she hisses at her reflection.

——-

AKA: There are unforeseen consequences to launching your First Officer to space against his will, and they don’t come from the quarter you would expect. Faith is the only solace left to Eva Stratt; the only scrap of her own humanity that she hasn't yet sacrificed to the cause.