Humanity is trapped. We trapped ourselves. For all the claims the Sisters make about the gateway to Heaven and forgiveness, that can't deflect the fact that we have only ourselves to blame. And not just for our presence in New Eden.
We suffer at our own hands every day because we carry a darkness with us. From our distant murky origins, we've brought our cruelty to the stars. And the best we can hope to do is to search out the hidden corners, expose the darkness, and let the light wither it away like a photophobic fungus.
The Minmatar probably understand this better than most people. Slavery has defined them for centuries, and you'd think they'd be safe from tyranny within their own borders.
That's not what I found at Belial Station.
I was traveling through Republic space when the faint distress signal came through a little-used channel, probably pirated from some near-defunct corp. The message was so garbled that even my best heuristics couldn't decipher it, but the words "we who remain" kept repeating amid the gibberish. A quick d-scan revealed several cosmic signatures in-system, and a probe array finally detected the presence of an unauthorized structure far from any commonly used space lane.
High sec is so often overlooked that it's easy for evil to hide in plain sight.
The moment I dropped out of warp, I almost smashed into the wreckage. What I saw was closer to a ruin than a station. The spars and cross-beams stuck out into the void like clutching fingers. Charring on what remained of the pressure hull indicated the use of heavy ordinance. And the half-effaced marking of the Angel Cartel showed up on closer inspection.
Anyone who's traveled in New Eden for even a little while known about the criminals and slavers calling themselves angels. If ever any name could be classed as a sick joke. I'd heard rumors about the flesh pits, the experiments, the rape gangs and organ jackers. Small wonder the Republic wants them wiped out.
The distress signal was coming in loud and clear now. As I surveyed the wreckage and brought my deep scan suite online, I felt my vital signs spike as I heard the words. They were faint but clear, with a refined accent, albeit punctuated by wracking coughs.
"To any ships who can hear my voice. This is Finn Sumaldir of the Republic Justice Department Tribunal, Ingunn Five. This is an emergency distress signal from Belial Station. Location unknown. My mission to free the slaves here has failed. Most of us are dead. Cartel left us to die. Capsuleer arrived in-system. Attacked station. Defenses and life support all but destroyed. We who remain... running out of oxygen and water. I've locked the last two survivors in... last habitable module. Not enough resources... for three. If you can hear me... do what I couldn't... save some lives. Message... repeats..."
They say we capsuleers have no souls, that we gave our souls in exchange for endless bodies.
I hope I proved them wrong that day. I'd never worked so hard to scan down debris. Images of botched hacks and explosive countermeasures flashed like waking nightmares through my brain. Images of bodies, silent and accusing, floating past my ship...
I was done. Cargo secured. I got the hell out of there before the cartel decided to finish the job, eliminating all traces of their murderous work.
When I'd docked at the nearest Republic station, I did something I don't normally do. I disembarked from my capsule and spoke to my cargo. They were a Brutor woman and her son. Her name was Menandi, and she was the loveliest woman I'd ever seen, covered with grease and half starved though she was. Her eyes were a clear green and she held her son against her with all the fierceness of a wolf. Something in the back of my augmented mind reacted instinctively: a feeling of pseudo deja vu that was not quite a memory.
At first, she didn't know I was the one who rescued her. But those gimlet eyes seemed to see right into my soul.
I honestly can't remember ever being hugged. Not until that day. "So shines a good deed in a weary world," she said.
"That sounds like a quotation," I replied.
"Ancient family motto." Those eyes were mesmerizing.
I can't say how long I stood there, not understanding what I'd just experienced. I don't even remember the exact words of her grateful goodbyes. Before I knew it I was undocked and headed for a location I'd bookmarked. I stayed at my secret place for hours, ship cloaked, silent in the brooding void. Thinking about Menandi. About cruelty.
Wondering just who and what I was...
No comments:
Post a Comment