~Event Horizon~
Event Horizon
Memories are Designed to Fade
by Luna Darkhaze
Disclaimer:This is a tearjerker so keep a box of tissues handy. I suppose
it’s rated PG, cos there’s some mighty fine cursing in it but nothing else naughty, really.
I own no one and no one owns me. Read carefully and Enjoy.
Space is silent like sadness.
Colder than a corpse.
Blacker than despair.
The only relief from the void were tiny, unwavering bits of lights, seeming almost pitiful as they bravely stood in the belly of darkness.
Captain Haze, of the starship Defiance, sat motionless in his command chair, watching the stars for the familiar patterns that would tell him where his ship should go next. Some people were terrified of space, of the unending, silent void, but Captain Haze was not one of them. Space you could count on, it was predictable, it followed rules. It never lied to you and if it was cold and merciless, well, so were a lot of things.
The captain's sharp eyes detected the odd glinting where there shouldn't be one a second before the proximity scanner sounded an alarm. His grey eyes were the eyes of someone who has seen too much tragedy and was frozen by it.
Killed by it.
Haze had a handsome, soft, almost child-like face but his eyes were calculating and cold. Almost colder than space. You couldn't just pretend he was another handsome face, ignore his eyes.
They gave him away every time.
"Sir, I detect an escape pod of unknown origin. Most likely a pirate. Shall I open fire?" the helmsman asked politely, his finger already over the 'fire' button. He knew what the answer would be. All the crewmen knew, this was merely a going through the motions, military habit.
Yet the captain was still silent, intently watching the shiny little container slip slowly through space. He felt a slight doubt, a red warning light in the back of his mind. Haze knew it was a bad idea to ignore his instincts, no matter how much his emotions bullied him otherwise. Emotions were unproductive things, the captain viewed them with
scorn.
"No. Leave it intact. Retrieve the survivor." he said shortly. Everyone on the bridge froze, all staring at the captain. Silence that could have matched that of space descended upon them, filling the air with unease. It was not like the captain to break habit like this. Everyone knew his ghastly past, it was whispered from table to table, always with a fearful glance around to make sure the captain was not near. His hate of space-pirates was infamous, some speculated it was the very reason he had joined the Space Legion; to eradicate the space vermin that had destroyed his family. He had been the only survivor of cargo-raid gone wrong. Only seven years old at the time. Tragic, really.
Haze became aware of all the eyes on him and lifted his head a little, regarding them all with one eyebrow quirked upward slightly.
"I want to have the escapee interrogated, let's find out what he is doing so far out in this vector," he said coolly to the helmsman, sensing that his officers needed reassurance.
"Mr. Colbsone, you have your orders." The captain turned his head back towards the view screen, ignoring everyone again. What they thought was of little consequence, as long as they did their job. They didn't matter.
Nobody mattered anymore.
press on