A Cry in Silence (The Last Road 3)

The quick and vibrant rhythm of the music that filled the cabin competed with the low-level hum of the mining laser on the exterior. The ship was an ancient Miracle Frigate, already out of production lines, and it was indeed a miracle that it stayed together… though that meant that the whole structure vibrated softly with the working of the laser, like a broken cradle or a wrong-attuned massage chair. The only room in the ship, the cabin, had just been repaired, and still smelled greatly of the oils employed on all the junctures to try to make them move smoothly; which had failed completely.
He sat on the worn-down chair, a young man, half-slept due to boredom. Only the strong and quick moves of the new music collection he had just bought kept him from falling asleep completely. He was trying to read, yet the vibration of his chair made that an epic task. He checked periodically the meter of the cargohold, expecting it to be ready, but it always had advanced just a little bit. If only it would work a bit quicker, he could repay his debts! And maybe buy a new ship, something better with which to make a decent living. God knew that Latna was expecting a baby, and to keep them both as they deserved, he would need a higher income than what this wreck produced. Much more.
The radar suddenly beeped the presence of another ship in the vicinity. He sprung to his feet, surprised, since the asteroid belt had shown to be empty since he came. The ship was just turning around the planet, orbiting smoothly, and had its motors off, so it hadn’t shown on his scanners. He would need more powerful ones next time, for sure. In any case, he motioned one of the external cameras with the dials for that and, after giving two punches to them – so much for the repairs-, he got a clear sight of it. The music in the cabin accelerated a bit, as the computer recognized his heightened interest and waking level.
It was a golden beauty. A combat ship, a big one in fact, with the emblem of House Metris on its frontal, one of the vassal Houses of the Sarum. They were far from home, for certain. Still, the beauty of the golden curves that reflected the light of the distant sun like God’s fire, and the Scriptures written all over the side showing the pious and zeal of their pilot, kept him from thinking too deeply in that detail. The powerful laser turrets moved slowly in their places, tracking the small asteroids that filled space, and opening fire with a silent burst when one of them came too near to the ship.
If he could just enter the pod-pilot universities, then he would be able to provide Latna with what she needed. But he wasn’t rich enough, and his measures and conscious levels weren’t high enough for the military to be interested in him and paying his entrance in them.
The scanner started beeping frenzied again, as one after another ships entered the asteroid belt exiting warp. Black and round ships, much smaller than the other one, covered with spikes, blood and heads. The lights of their cabins were red, and their weapons didn’t bother with the small asteroids as they centred on their prey: the battleship. They zoomed real near to it, where the bigger one had problems targeting them, and started shooting. No sound, no vibration, no anything reached his ship from the fierce battle, and that somehow seemed to make him feel distant to it, like if he was just a spectator of another holomovie.
At first it seemed that they held no possibilities, as several of them exploded quickly in a sphere of violent fire. The swarm of them met the powerful opposition of turrets and the battleship ignited its motors to manoeuvre, and that was too much for them. But truth was soon shown to be otherwise. It was held in place by some device, and the continuous pounding of the enemy weapons soon overloaded the shields. From then on, he could only gaze in terror and awe as round after round started pounding and bouncing off the armour, damaging it further and further.
The music went down deep, paralleling his fear and pain to see such beauty destroyed, as slowly the first hits started getting inside and damaging the structure of the ship. At first the holes were quickly covered, but soon there were too many to be taken care of, and the battleship started to bleed oxygen. Soon, more than that was in space. People, furniture, small objects, fragments of armour, all made a cloud around the halted ship, like a swarm of flies preying on a corpse.
The music went even deeper, into a tragic solo of electro-violins, in a requiem for the dying ship. One after another, huge explosions started to rock the structure as the motors had taken too many enemy fire. Their antimatter started to destabilize and initiated wave after wave of massive chain reactions that tore the ship from side to side. Several pods and escape units were thrown into space, trying to reach the planet bellow… but the attacks took care of them.
His own comm channels started to beep, as an incoming transmission was received. It came from the ship, and as the first pages said, was extremely important to the Empire’s future. He opened his eyes in surprise and excitement: his chance to be a hero had come, to do something important! He would make Latna proud! Then realization struck him and, as he lifted his eyes, the music started a staccato, or a military march, he wasn’t too sure.
The red eyes were fixed on him as the assaulting ships turned in their lines, their prey completely destroyed and a new one chosen. He saw them look deeply into him, and the small shutters of realization came to him. To be a hero means risking way too much, he didn’t want to be so anymore! He just wanted to return to mining in the system that had always been safe until now.
He took the steering wheel and ordered the ship to turn, stopped the mining laser and destined all the power to the motors and warp drives… and they failed to ignite. Damn them! They had promised him at station that they didn’t need any repairs! He didn’t need this fancy music equipment, not if his warp needed repairs! He hit the controls once, twice, and the hum and buzz of the warp drives initiated. He sighed in relieve.
But too soon. The first round hit him from far, and hit directly the carcass of the ship since it didn’t have any shields. What for? They took too much space in the cargohold, and he needed it all for the paying of the debts… answer was right in front of him, as he realized when the next volley went trough the cabin and slammed into the music equipment.
Silence fell. A terrible silence. The silence of space. He could hear only the warp motors slowly igniting, the vibrations of everything in the cabin, the beeping of the radar, the electric static of the destroyed musical equipment… the pounding of his heart. And, outside, the cries of the exterior of the ship as more rounds opened cracks in it.
He was pushed back, deep into his seat as, finally, the warp initiated. But soon he was freed from the pressure… too soon. What the hell? Why had the warp stopped? It worked correctly, why now stop? Then realization came to him. Why hadn’t the battleship warped away either? With the awareness of truth in his interior, he shifted the exterior cameras to look to his back: two small enemy ships were very close, and the blood and heads on their exteriors seemed to make mock of his imagination.
The last thing he saw was the image of his soon-to-be wife on the side of the deck.

Four days later, a CONCORD message appeared on Latna’s comm unit, and she rushed to reach it. She was eager to know why her love hadn’t come back home since days ago. Had he fled from her and the responsibility? God knew they had their discussions, and that he feared becoming the kind of parent his own father had been, but had she failed to notice how deep the crack was?
The message was short, and terrible. Too terrible. She could have lived with him running away, she could have chased him and convinced him. Soothed him as she always did with their song. But she couldn’t follow him to where he had gone, not without taking the baby too.
CONCORD had found the wreck of his ship on the exterior of a rarely used asteroid field that orbited one of the uninhabited planets of the system. The wrecks were empty and despoiled, alone in the vastness of space. Pirate attack. CONCORD felt sorry at her loss, but had nothing more to do with the issue.
All very formal, all very clear, all very cold. They wouldn’t bother investigating the death of a simple and poor miner, that wasn’t important enough. He wasn’t a pod pilot, nor a Holder, so CONCORD wouldn’t loose its time. Turn around, citizen, nothing to see here, came to say the message. The love of her life was not worthy of investigation. Vanished, a cry in silence that no one wanted to hear.