A Little Bit Trouble

Posted on Tue Apr 6th, 2021 @ 6:49pm by Tristan & The Narrator

Mission: Back in Black
Location: En route to Ghost
Timeline: Day 29

Kalidasa's bright yellow light cast out into the Black, similar in brightness to Georgia, but orbited by more planets than any other star in the Verse. In contrast, out here not every planet had been marked for terraforming yet, their distance from the Core pushing them down the priority list. It didn't put them outside the Alliance's influence, however, as was notably stated by the presence of a 'border' of six deep-space Alliance stations.

This matter was rudely brought to Tristan's attention when his personal cortex pinged in the middle of the night shipboard time. A message notification nagged at him, the tone sounding super loud in the quiet of the Echo's sleep cycle as it requested a password before it would open.

The sound rose the young man from his sleep, a sound he hadn't heard in quite a while. His nerves were on high alert as he picked up the device and unlocked it.

A message waited there - no two. And Tristan recognised the unmistakable sender details from the first as being from family. The second? Unknown sender, but encrypted. There was also a news bulletin marked from the Alliance in general, reporting various missing persons, one of which... was him.

Tristan swallowed hard as he pressed the family message. In an instant an image of his mother popped up on the screen.

"Tristan, I don't know where you are," she said, her voice shaking with fear as she willed the tears in her eyes not to fall. "Your father is very worried about you. I'm sca-" she stopped, using a tissue to dab at the corner of her eyes. "I'm scared something has happened to you. Please, if you're alright, let us know. We're extremely worried."

"My baby, please," she pleaded with him, her eyes staring directly into his soul. "Please come home. We miss you, we love you. I just need to know you're safe and you're alright."

With a swipe of his finger, Tristan dismissed the message, returning to the main cortex interface. He kicked himself for reading it, but even more for not turning off his read replies. She would know that her message was seen. Perhaps that would be enough to alleviate her fears and concerns without giving away his position.

The young man wiped away his own tears and opened his messages again, clicking on the encrypted message.

'Gaishan. Reception area. Room A-3. Under the desk.' It said. 'Tell no one. Or your mother won't send you another message.' The message faded out as Tristan read the words, until no trace remained of its existence but the faint sign of light on the dark screen.

Fear crept up his spine as his eyes watched the message disintegrate on his screen. He took a deep breath, writing down the information in his journal, hoping he remembered the exact details correctly. While he had no plans to actually step foot on Ghost, for obvious reason, it seems he had no choice now.

Standing from his bed, he gathered his belongings. Every one of them. He clearly didn't have a choice but to do as the message asked, or rather, demanded. But he knew how this would end. And he knew he'd have to run again.

He stepped from his room, the cargo bay quiet as people went about their own business. His fingers ran along the bulkhead as he soaked in the memories of this place. They were hesitant at first, but in the end, this crew had opened their arms to him. They accepted him, despite knowing almost nothing about him. He'd forever be grateful for that, and maybe one day, he'd get to see them again...