Separate Ways

The fog rolled down the green and grey stained mountains, pouring into the thick forest below like an unchallenged river. The fog softly oozed out of the forest wall and onto the fielded outskirts of the small town of Galek, as if the forest had soaked up the rest of the fog like a sponge. The spring sky was dark with grey clouds stopping the early morning sun from breaking through. Fares, a moon of Delirium was known for this type of weather; a long spring season after as short but brutal winter season.

Stone monuments sat still in the damp morning air, soaked with morning dew and chiselled with the names of those who had passed. Across from one particular pyramid shaped monument marked with the name Mariana Bakari, stood her two children who had returned to the very same spot for the last four years. A long and monotonous four years at that.

Corvus Bakari, her oldest stood behind his younger sister, Sasha and patiently waited for her to say whatever she felt like she needed to say. He could vividly remember four years prior, standing I the very same spot but looking down into a coffin laid at the bottom of a square hole, with his sister beside him crying hysterically and gripping onto his arm as if he were going to jump in after their mother. To this very moment, Corvus could still feel the phantom grip of his sister on his arm when they came to the cemetery.

Sasha looked up at him, tears welling up in her eyes much less than the last few times they came. Looking back he could see the little thirteen year old girl that had lost everything was still resonating within her. She had long pink hair, shaved on one side while the rest was parted over her right eye which was ocean blue. Like her brother, her skin was fair and was very lightly speckled with freckles. They both looked like their mother, though neither of them remembered what their father looked like; though they never cared to remember.

He had been gone for a very long time, and at the time of their mother’s death they were sure that he would return for the funeral but he never came. He never even answered their calls. This took a toll on both of them, but Corvus especially then realizing that he would need to take the role of his parents and take care of Sasha.

Corvus could remember his father but chose not to think of him, or at least tried not to think of him. He began to look more and more like him over the years; jet black hair like his father that he kept messy and spiked, unlike his father’s which was combed back. He carried his father’s eyes which were emerald green and naturally his skin tone was pale, but after having worked in the service shop for so long he began to carry blacks stains from fumes and oil on his face.

“Don’t leave.” She said quietly, quivering from the cold morning air. Her voice snapped him out his trance.

“What?” he asked.

“Don’t leave, like they did.” She said again.

“Mom didn’t have a choice, Sass.” He replied quickly, addressing her by the nickname he’d given her so many years ago.

“But dad did.” She snapped, standing up. She pushed by Corvus holding herself tightly trying to keep the could out of her jacket along with her feelings. Corvus grabbed her arm tightly like she had done to him, and she spun around shooting a look back at him.

Locking eyes with him, she could see the sincerity bored in his face. He had mentioned the night before during a heated argument between the two that he was leaving for Delirium to pursue his own dreams. Until now, he hadn’t realized that the comment meant more to Sasha than he thought and the saddened look on her face told him everything he needed to know. Pulling her toward him and embracing her tightly, he could feel her shaking. Whether it was from the anger or the cold air did not matter.

“I’m not going anywhere - Not without you.” He said. There was a long pause between them and Sasha let out a exasperated sigh, and a sniffle.

“Thank you.” She replied.

They said their goodbyes and left the cemetery just before noon on Fares. Stepping onto the cracked concrete roads that criss-crossed through the town and made their way toward the town centre. The buildings around them were old and boxy in shape with thin cylindrical chimneys poking out of the roofs which were all built out of black solar panels. The sidewalks were especially wide and unlike most of the planets and moons in the system, Fares still used many vehicles with wheels so the need for roads was still viable. Many of the residents would walk to local shops or to work, so the need for expensive air speeders or starships was more extravagant than anything.

The streets were beginning to become restless with workers on their way to and from their lunch breaks and shopping at the market which comfortably fed the entire town. As much as Corvus wanted to leave the backwater farming moon, there was a special kind of charm that came with this small town. There weren’t talks of wars, or famine or even politics unless it directly affected them. Aside from that, it was home but it was also time to leave. He and his sister had overstayed their welcome.

After passing the town centre he stepped onto Branch Street which was a street he began to hate having to tread every day; mainly because it led to the service shop, a job he despised. He was a mechanic at the shop fixing mostly farm equipment but any travellers that came in need for repairs the shop would take them. Although he hated he job, he was one of the better mechanics and would be assigned the larger and tougher jobs.

This was one way Corvus could not escape shadowing his father was his love of ships and piloting. His mother told them that their father was a freighter pilot which was why he was gone for so long at a time. He was innately a pilot, without question as everything about them came naturally to them. Besides, he’d tried so many hobbies that he was getting sick of constantly switching trying to escape his hidden passion.

“I’ll see you when you get home.” Sasha said, as they began to part ways at the same intersection which led to their home on the other side of the town. Life was beginning to become routine for them, which was comfortable but unnerving to Corvus. Routine meant lack of change, and change is what they needed.

“You always do.” He replied. Corvus continued his climb up the steep road toward a large silver barn that housed the service shop. Atop the mountain, one could look out at the vastness of the town and beyond through the gap between the mountains that surrounded them. Corvus had only been to the larger city, Deverra several times with his mother in the past but not long enough to take in the sights. Galek was all he knew.

Looking back over his shoulder, Corvus couldn’t but be burdened with the memory of his father leaving for the last time, when Sasha was only six years old. Sasha was in school that day, and his father took him out in the backyard to have the talk with him. His father told him that he would be back very soon to teach him everything about piloting for the summer. Corvus knows now, but not at the time what this conversation was really about. It was the greatest lie his father ever told him, and he would never forget. Ten years was not very soon.

He shook the memory off as he always did and continued walking. He heard the distant hum of an engine in the sky and turned around to walk backward. Above him from the distance, was a massive freighter crossing the sky likely headed to Daverra and was shaped like a tower on its side with four wings shaped like sevens jutting out from the side leaving thin trails behind them. Corvus always hoped he’d see his father’s ship fly overhead and land in the spaceport down below but it never happened.

Having been stuck in the moment he stumbled on the curb of the sidewalk but quickly caught himself before hitting the ground. The sight of massive ships overhead was always amazing to Corvus, as the largest ship he ever entered was some of the farming equipment which could not compare to massive freighters.

Something was strange threw him off as he looked back up realizing that the freighter was being escorted by several very small ships that were in formation around the ship. It was unheard of for freighters to have escorts on Fares, even for the highest quality of goods. This raised an alarm inside of his head but he tucked it in his subconscious and continued walking as the freighter lowered itself to the spaceport down below.

Continuing up the road, he finally reached the end of the street which stopped at the service shop. New and old vehicles of all makes and models were strewn about the front of the shop and consisted mostly of air speeders and rusted farming equipment. He walked toward the double doors beside the two larger garage doors in the front and pushed the doors opened. As the doors closed behind him the quiet sounds of the early morning town had been silenced by the roaring drills, hammers and ion torches hissing throughout the shop.

Greeting the young secretary at the desk briefly, he continued into the shop area. He kept to himself and crossed the shop floor to a room in the back where he sat down on a bench between two rows of lockers, resting his face in his hands. Running his fingers through his hair now, he sat up straight and cracked his neck preparing himself for the long shift ahead. A figure appeared in the doorway to the shop, but Corvus did not turn to look, knowing exactly who it was.

“Bakari.” Said a strong voice from the doorway. Corvus shot a glance to his boss standing at the door. He was an older man with a face painted with cracks and dark stains of years in service shops. Despite his old age and feeble build, he still came across as an intimidating man. You needed thick skin to work in a service shop with the attitudes and egos that were employed there, let alone run the entire shop.

“You okay, kid?” he asked, his voice carrying a nonchalant vibe which rubbed Corvus the wrong way. Corvus simply responded by shrugging his shoulders and looked forward at the lockers, when in reality he was looking far passed them. His boss sighed trying not to sound frustrated but to no avail.

“Take five minutes, then get out on the floor, we got shit to do.” He finished, turning away from Corvus and disappearing into the shop. The door shut behind him and the sounds from the shop were slightly muffled but still loud enough to rattle ones bones.

It wasn’t so much that Corvus was sad about the anniversary of his mother’s death, which he was, but it was more that he was tired. Not from lack of sleep (which was an issue), but tired of the grind that his life had become since his mother’s death. There was no break. Becoming a parent at seventeen to his younger sister was not quite what he expected out of life, and although he understood the responsibilities would eventually catch up with him, it still enraged him at the cards he was dealt. He knew something was coming. He knew something had to change for him and Sasha, and now that he was close enough to his monetary goals he could get him and Sasha off of the backwater moon.

After a long moment to himself in thought, he pulled himself together one last time and stood up. He pushed the door open and entered the shop. As his foot hit the floor of the shop an alarm sounded. Everyone looked up and around in confusion. This alarm was nothing they’d heard before, even during tests. Soon everyone looked at each other, shrugged it off and continued working assuming it was a malfunction as even their boss was dumbfounded by the event. That changed once the doors to the shop opened.

A man stumbled into the shop screaming for help, covered in blood and holding himself up. Everyone shot a glance over at the screaming man and before anyone could react to what was happening the front glass of the shop shattered and short bursts of energy pelted the man in the back and the wall across from the door. The man crashed into the ground below and his screams went silent almost immediately after a blood curdling yelp. The room fell silent for a moment and only the hum of the machinery could be heard amongst them.

Within the moment of silence, the sounds of gunfire and screaming came from outside of the garage doors of the shop. Everyone looked around at each other, at a loss for words and unsure of what to do. Corvus’ body heated up and he felt his spine get weak as chills shot up them. Suddenly, a voice came over the loudspeakers in the shop that made everyone jump.

Evacuate the premises immediately. Galek is under attack.