Rating: R for Rape (not described)

Word Count: 598

Spoilers: None

Author’s Note: This is probably the darkest fiction I have written to date. It is not happy. A rape occurs. It is not described, but I’m warning you now, if you don’t want to read anything about that, you may not want to read this. I honestly don’t know where this came from, except that a book I was converting at work yesterday had a rape in it, which probably put the topic on my mind.

Betrayal

by 2x2

She invites him into her shuttle like she has dozens of times before.

They exchange pleasantries, but as they continue to talk and he still hasn’t revealed his reason for coming, a surprising uneasiness begins to creep into her thoughts. She dismisses them at first - she knows him too well, he’s above suspicion - but the feeling persists. Though it hasn’t been a concern before, she is acutely aware that they are the only two on the ship right now. Then she notices something in his eyes she’s never seen before and suddenly he’s standing far too close.

“I have a message for you,” he says, and she can feel his breath as the expression on his face changes - hardens - and the implications of his words sink in.

She realizes too late that she really doesn’t know him at all.

She runs then, desperately, for the hidden, cold secret she’s never had to use before, but he’s faster. She strikes out, her training instinctively directing her limbs to act while her brain is still too numb with shock to think, but she is outmatched by his skill. Without effort he repels her attack; the force of his blow knocks the breath from her lungs and she crumples, clutching her stomach, fighting to draw air into her frozen lungs.

He picks up the box that holds the secret and opens it, a smile that isn’t his twisting his face as he looks at her. He closes it again and sets it on the floor, then brings his foot down on it with a violent crash of his heel, wood splintering and glass shattering as the box and syringe it contains are destroyed. All