Old Friends, Part 4: Orion’s Story,
part 2
Orion
sat back down, "After he destroyed Seat of Power, Balance of Judgment
stopped talking to the rest of us. He disappeared off into deep space. Only a
few of us where left by that point: most of my crew left, went back to their
home worlds. The same happened to the rest of the fleet. Some of the others gave
up, stopped caring. What remained of my crew did its best to help the out-lying
colonies to survive. We started to ship cargo, medical supplies, people, what
ever was needed. Over the years, it became peaceful. The Nietzscheans started to
leave us alone, the Magog were on the other side of know space."
"I
started to like being a cargo ship. I'd spent a lot of time doing humanitarian
missions for the Commonwealth, so it didn't seem that strange. Over time, my
crew started to have families, and as their kids grew, we taught them ways of
the High Guard. Some stayed, most left. About 20 years ago, I only had a crew of
ten. My Captain, Trent McCoy, a descendant of my First Lieutenant, took a job
delivering supplies to a world in the Milky Way. We where overrun by
Nietzscheans, Kodiak pride. They killed most of the crew, and disabled me. Helen
McCoy, the captain's wife, and my chief engineer, refused to give the
Nietzscheans her access code. The Nietzscheans commander tortured her: he raped
her, and she fell pregnant. She tried to kill herself, but he stopped her. Nine
months later, she gave birth to a daughter."
Orion
resumed his pacing, "The captains son, Mark, was able to re-activate me,
and I killed the Nietzscheans. By that point, only five of the crew remained,
and three of them left. Helen continued as captain, but her spirit was broken:
she died two years later. I was left to bring up her two children. Mark was ten,
and Mary, she was barely two. If it wasn't for Whisper of the Wind, my pilot,
I'd never have been able to do it. Mark's my captain now, and Mary's my
engineer. You better hope she doesn't run into your friend Tyr: she really
doesn't like Nietzscheans."
Trance
bounded through the hatch, "Hey, who's your friend? Anyway, Tyr's gotten
into a fight on the Drift." Orion walked past Trance, "That will be
Mary."
TBC