Somewhere out there in the depths of space, they say there is a ship with a weapon with unmached power. It has the power to destroy entire fleets, blast away armies on the ground.
A young boy stared up at the stars, having one question on his mind. The very question that has been asked a million times before him, before they were attacked, before the fate of the world depended upon it.
"What happened to the Portico?"
***
twenty-three years prior.
A wave of celebration came across the hijackers. After decades of fighting, the war would be brought to an end with the capture of the Portico - an orbital ship with a weapon powerful enough to destroy entire armies on the ground.
"We did it! We captured the weapon! The war is over!"
"Relax Donovin, It's not over yet, we haven't captured the bridge yet."
As they made their way towards the bridge they could feel the force of engines being brought to full speed. The acceleration pulling them back made it all the more difficult to move up. They finally fought their way through the door, with weapons drawn.
Upon entering the bridge an explosion sounded from the bowels of the ship. The engines had gone quiet. In the bridge, they were struck by the unnerving peace the captive ship mates had about them - they all smiled like martyrs.
"What did they do?"
The men aboard the Portico were all transfixed on the sight of a small blue circle the size of the moon in the night sky. That blue circle, the only home any of them have ever known, was steadily shrinking into the abyss.
"You want to know what we did?" He looked to the Captain for clearance to speak;
"We overloaded the ships engines and broke orbit, you will never be able to use the weapon now."
There was a chill of terror that went down the hijackers' backs.
"No problem, we'll get a team to repair it." the leader of the hijacking team then ordered a couple subordinates out of the bridge down towards the engine bay in back of the ship.
It was fifteen minutes before the team reported back. The two looked pale and shaken as if they had seen death.
"What's it look like?"
"The engine is in pieces. There's no way we're going to be able to bring it online."
"Can we use thrusters to reverse direction?"
"No, the thruster's fuel has been depleted."
Even the captives did not celebrate. It was with that news that the men aboard the Portico realized they were doomed; all victims of a war they tried to bring to an end.
"So we just wait to die, is that it?"
03 Aug 2011, 12:03 pm
