Crash Landing (For Salutatories)

There really was nothing quite like the nauseating and fear inducing experience of rapid atmospheric descent with no axis stabilizers.  Intense concentration on the controls could only mitigate the disorientation to a minimal degree.  Barely enough to think past the screaming instincts of one's own imminent death.  The ground was rushing towards them.  Or rather they towards the surface.  Theoretically, there was an up and a down, gravity defining the relationship.  Did it realistically matter?  A collision was a collision, two objects violently striking.  The shuttle plummeted.  At the moment before impact, Garak was acutely aware of two things.  The doctor was yelling at him and that this breath he was inhaling now might very well be his last.