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1. it's always darkest before the dawn by FrozenMirage

   Fandoms: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir, Iron Lung (2026)  

   • Mature
   • No Archive Warnings Apply
   • F/F, Gen
   • Work in Progress

   29 Jul 2026

   Tags

   • No Archive Warnings Apply
   • Ava (Iron Lung)/Olesya Ilyukhina
   • The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung) & Olesya Ilyukhina
   • Ryland Grace & Olesya Ilyukhina
   • Ryland Grace & Olesya Ilyukhina & Yáo Li-Jie
   • Olesya Ilyukhina & Yáo Li-Jie
   • Olesya Ilyukhina & Jack (Iron Lung)
   • Olesya Ilyukhina
   • Ava (Iron Lung)
   • The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)
   • Yáo Li-Jie (Project Hail Mary)
   • Ryland Grace
   • Jack (Iron Lung)
   • The Hail Mary Spaceship (Project Hail Mary)
   • Lesbian Olesya Ilyukhina
   • Olesya Ilyukhina is a Menace
   • Olesya Ilyukhina and Yáo Li-Jie Live
   • Olesya Ilyukhina Centric
   • Convict Olesya Ilyukhina
   • Kind Of
   • Hurt No Comfort
   • for a little bit - Freeform
   • she makes friends later
   • C.O.I. | Consolidation of Iron (Iron Lung)
   • Space Prison System
   • Implied/Referenced Homophobia
   • Rated M for language and implied sexual content
   • Loneliness
   • Lesbian Ava (Iron Lung)
   • No Lesbians Die
   • Lesbians in Space
   • Submarines
   • Engineering
   • inconsistent updates
   • Wormholes
   • Title from a Florence + the Machine Song
   • Title From Shake It Out by Florence + The Machine
   • Power of Friendship
   • Friendship
   • Friendships will outweigh romantic connection
   • sorry - Freeform
   • Blood Oceans (Iron Lung)
   • Original Consolidation of Iron Characters
   • Original Convicts
   • They aren't super important but they're around
   • beta read by wwerewired
   • go read their iron lung fic
   • told through transcripts narrative chapters and journal entries
   • Diary/Journal
   • Betrayal
   • Project Hail Mary Canon-Typical References to Suicide

   Summary

   "Yáo was taken away, Grace is unconscious, and I think we have been kidnapped by space pirates."

   Engineer Olesya Ilyukhina is forcefully awakened from her coma much earlier than she should be. Though, "should be" seems relative when she cannot find Tau Ceti, Earth, or anything else that should be in space. With her crew out of commission and the goal seemly unreachable, she has no choice but to work with the Consolidation of Iron on their research. Things take a turn when she realizes that the feelings that she held for one of the Captains of the Consolidation turn from annoyance to something warmer. Still, she has to stay on guard. Even if her knowledge and resources earn her privileges that other convicts do not get to enjoy, she is just as trapped on this station as the rest of them.

   The story is told as a collection of Commander's Logs transcripts, chapters in prose, and journal entries.

   Alternative Title: Olesya Ilyukhina's No Good Very Bad Time at the Consolidation of Iron

   Series

   • Part 1 of i'm ready to suffer and i'm ready to hope

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   10,436

   Chapters:

   6/?

   Collections:

   1

   Comments:

   30

   Kudos:

   58

   Bookmarks:

   14

   Hits:

   769