Thursday 10 December 2009

A Memory - Ishomilken

Rocking herself slowly back and forth in the corner, a young girl was crying to herself. She had asked several times where her parents are, refusing to believe they were gone – or so the adults believed.

She was lucky, and so were the seven others that had escaped with her.


Adults, she thought as the sobs died down, they don’t understand. I am a Kielle, the last surviving member of my family. Dos Tu Mai got to her feet, swaying slightly as the sudden action made her dizzy. The young girl – no more than ten years old - left the quarters of the family that had taken her in, heading towards the ship hangars. Her father had taught her to fly in a shuttle, and she had always dreamt of the romance and adventure of the life of a capsuleer.

Maybe I can kill those bastards that destroyed my life, she said silently to herself as she watched the ships dock and undock from the station.


An opportunity presented itself, a shuttle ready for flight.

It looked like every other standard Caldari shuttle, but something was different. The ship was painted slightly different and there was the corporate logo of The Black Rabbits emblazoned on the side.

She slipped into the little ship and run through what her father had taught her. Engine systems were in optimal, life support and other systems looked fine, docking clamps were responding. She looked in the flight logs, searching for the ship’s call sign.

“Fajuula to control, requesting clearance to undock,” she said in the most adult voice she could. “Control to Fajuula, you are clear to undock. Fly safe.”


She had done it. Releasing the clamps and heading to the undocking tube, she left Ishomilken.

Warping to the Usi gate, she activated the jump gate as the warp coil shut down.

The rush and disorientation of making her first jump subsided.


Checking the systems again, she began to align to the next gate, Jeras – home.

Thirty AU until I hit the Jeras gate, then I’ll be safe, she thought. A great black shadow fell across the reflected light on the shuttle’s screen, fear gripping her heart. In his calm, lilting voice, Mr. Chopin spoke, “so, where do you think you’re going?”

She had to think fast, she saw a pistol next to the console. Whirling around with the pistol in her hands, she stared at him, “aim up a little more and just to your left. That way you’ll get a clean shot.” He smiled, holding his arms spread wide.

Hands shaking violently, she pulled the trigger. Nothing happened but the dry clack of an empty chamber. She screamed then threw the pistol at him, throwing herself against the console and began sobbing.


****

Waking suddenly, cold sweat dripping down my brow as a shiver ran down my spine. I blinked to get the stinging, salty liquid out of my eye, vision readjusting to the gloom of my personal chamber. It was a dream, another phantom memory surfacing.

Life will go on, it has to.

I haven’t got my revenge. Yet...

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