Echoes of Harmony

The Bastion

Mornage, Stariek

2 March 3297

Hayden Reid stumbled as he stood from the chair in the dark chamber. The sensation of falling returned as soon as the Mindscape released him. He allowed himself to fall to his knees, his hands grasping his thighs. A wave of nausea overcame him, and he turned to the side and emptied his stomach onto the metal floor.

Of course he would see his son. Who else would have had the slightest chance of convincing him to not launch the missiles?

But the thought didn’t make the fact he sorely missed his only child any easier. Just seeing the AI take the face and voice of his child was enough to break his heart. There was so much he needed to tell Skylar, so much he needed to apologize for. He promised himself he wouldn’t turn into his father, and that is exactly what happened. How could he possibly make it up to Skylar?

A wracking sob filled the room. At first, he didn’t know where it came from. Not until he felt the tears running down his own cheeks. Not until he felt his chest heave. Then, he still didn’t know where it came from but knew it was him making the noise. A heavy weight came over him. One that was not there before he entered the chamber.

Taking a deep breath, then another, he was able to push the emotions back down into whatever well they came from. There was going to be time later for him to process them. Now was not the time.

He wiped the tears away from his eyes. A quick rub on his prisoner jumpsuit obscured the evidence. Sniveling to get the mucous back into his nose, he slowly made his way to the door. It opened as he approached, revealing General Augusta Zorn and Private Bradley. The latter came to immediate attention while the former looked at him with something approaching boredom.

“Good work,” Zorn muttered. “I received word the missiles were able to destroy the majority of the Druthagar fleet. Not all of their ships, unfortunately. Some of them were able to escape.”

“I’m glad I could be of service to the Empire,” Hayden said, resisting the urge to sniff loudly. He started walking back to the lift with Zorn following behind him. “Now, I believe you promised to bring me to my son.”

“That I did.” Zorn was silent for several moments until the lift door closed and they began their ascent. He placed a hand on Hayden’s shoulder, causing him to nearly jerk away. Every word that followed was like a gunshot in the small elevator. “I have some bad news. The station took heavy damage in the battle. Your son was in one of the sections most targeted during the conflict. I’m afraid he didn’t make it.”

Hayden’s breath caught in his throat. It felt as if it closed. No matter how much he tried to breathe, no air made it to his lungs. A heavy pressure fell on his chest. Something seemed to wrap around his sinuses and constrict them. His jaw dropped open, just slightly.

It couldn’t be true. The general was lying. It was another one of his tricks to get Hayden to do whatever he wanted. He would get brought back to Vertyn, and he would find his son, alive and well.

He turned slowly to Zorn. The man had a look of compassion and regret Hayden never saw on his face before. Any thought that Zorn was lying, any hope that Hayden had of seeing his son alive again, disappeared.

Hayden collapsed. There was nothing else to do. He slammed into the metal floor of the lift, his knees protesting in pain before he buried his head in his hands. Hayden bawled. Tears leaked through his fingers. They dripped to the ground in quiet plops. His body spasmed.

It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. The words repeated over and over in his head, begging, pleading, with him that it was all a bad dream. That he would wake up in his cell on Vertyn as if this day never happened. He would eventually find a way out of the cell to see his son, alive and well. Then, they would find Kaylee and be a happy family again. Any second, he would wake up.

He didn’t.

#

Space Station Vertyn

Stariek Orbit

5 March 3297

Skylar sat against the wall of the common room for the dormitories he was assigned. His knees were tucked up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them to almost curl into a ball. He had his chin on his kneecaps, watching Lina as she smiled and doodled on her tablet with her legs crossed.

When he first walked into the common room when they arrived, it was smaller than he would have expected for the sixteen people between four dormitory rooms. A pair of couches sat in the center of the room. Between them was a low table. Otherwise, the room was empty of any decorations. It was a far cry from what he was used to at either of his family’s estates.

In the few days that had passed since the Druthagar retreated, things had mostly gone back to normal. Repair bots and people worked what seemed like all the time putting the station back together. There was an increased presence of military ships around the station. Skylar enjoyed watching them when he had the chance. Mostly, that was when Lina doodled in between their classes, such as now.

“What are you drawing?” Skylar asked, trying to get a peek at Lina’s tablet. His voice was quiet, something that was common ever since the attack on the station. Whenever that thought crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but think about Rach. She was out there somewhere. That much he knew. He just had to find out where she was then get in and rescue her.

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“Nothing.” Lina quickly hid it before closing the application and turning off the screen. A slight blush hit her cheeks. She put the tablet aside and placed her hands on her ankles and leaned forward slightly. A serious look replaced her smile. “When are you going to tell me what happened the other day?”

“As soon as you tell me what you were drawing.”

“You go first,” she said, nodding her head at him. “I know you well enough that if I go first, you’ll never tell me.”

Skylar inwardly groaned, hoping he just thought he rolled his eyes and didn’t actually. She had been pressing him the last few days to know more about why he froze during the attack. Not that she wasn’t allowed to. Maybe it would be better to just tell her and get it over with. It wasn’t like she planned on making fun of him for it. He knew she was worried about him during the whole ordeal.

As he opened his mouth to tell her of his being kidnapped, the door to the common room hissed open. Both of them looked up to see General Zorn entering the room, one of the robotic soldiers at either shoulder. Under one hand, he had a folded piece of blue and white cloth. Though it was partially hidden by the folds, he could just make out two of the four diamonds for the Stariek flag.

“General on deck!” someone called out, their voice cracking.

Everyone in the room, Skylar and Lina included, immediately got to their feet and stood at attention. It only took a few times of kids getting punished for them to catch on. Now, they acted with a precision Skylar would not have thought possible just a few months ago.

The general’s eyes scanned the room before landing on Skylar. Immediately, his heart hammered faster thinking about what he did this time to earn Zorn’s attention. Before Skylar knew it, Zorn was standing directly in front of him. The possibilities of what he was going to say ran through Skylar’s head like a fighter through space. Nothing could have prepared him for what came next.

“Skylar Reid, I regret to inform you during the Druthagar attack on Space Station Vertyn, your father, Provost Hayden Reid, was killed.”

The rest of the words passed in a blur. A buzz filled his ears as tears did the same to his eyes. His heart was clamped by a vise-like hand. Heavy pressure asserted itself on his chest, nearly causing him to tip backwards. An actual hand gripped his, but he didn’t react. He didn’t even know how he was supposed to react to it. The buzzing in his ears grew louder, blocking out the general’s next words even as his mouth moved.

His father always seemed invincible. Other than that day in his office, the day of their fight, he was full of life. To hear that he was killed in a stupid attack on a stupid space station. A space station that he shouldn’t have been on in the first place. And now, he couldn’t even apologize to his dad about that fight. That stupid fight. All because he didn’t do what he was told. Maybe if he had, his father would still be alive.

Everything was falling apart. It was his fault. Ever since that day in the mountains, when he was supposed to keep his mom and Rach safe, he failed. Time and time again. No matter what he did, he wasn’t good enough. And now all these eyes were on him, boring holes into him. Their silence and stares overwhelmed him. The general was still talking. His words were gibberish. Lina’s presence next to him, his hand in hers, burned. Too much. It was too much.

He needed to get out.

General Zorn finished speaking. He held out the flag to Skylar. A look of contempt and pity—why did it have to be pity?—filled his face.

Skylar ignored it. He ripped his hand free from Lina’s and took a faltering step towards the door. Then another. His knees wobbled. A pit formed in his stomach. He could barely breathe. Still, he managed to get to the door. No one tried to stop him. He just needed to get away. Needed to be anywhere but here. There were too many eyes, too many people, too much everything.

Even as he went out the door, the weight on his chest, the grip around his heart, remained. The hallway was mostly empty. Despite how few people were there, he couldn’t shake the feeling they watched him. Couldn’t shake the feeling they pitied him. He just wanted to be alone, be free of the guilt that crushed down on him, be normal. But his life had never been normal. All because he was the fucking Provost’s son. If he had a say in it, he never would have chosen this life. Who would?

He stumbled. His legs no longer supported him. Knees buckling, he fell to the ground. His palms slammed against the cold metal. Vibrations shot up his arms. He collapsed to his side, back against the wall and head on the metal floor. Tears finally broke through the dam he put up and down his cheeks. Sobs wracked his body—his impossibly thin, frail, tiny body. Now, it didn’t matter who saw, who cared about him, who pitied or resented him. For the first time in his life, he felt alone. A space station full of people, and he felt utterly alone. Some of those people tried to talk to him now. Tried to console him. None of them could overcome the ringing in his ears.

Scenes replayed over and over in his head. The fight with his father. Being taken from the safe room. Cowering from the Druthagar attack. His father being killed. Each one after the next. Repeating over and over when it reached the end.

Skylar didn’t know how long he lay there. It could have been minutes or hours. Time had no meaning in that moment. Not until a hand—a gentle hand—ran through his hair before rubbing in circles in the center of his back. The pressure seemed to alleviate somewhat. It no longer felt as if a helicar sat on his chest. Tears still streaming down his face, snot oozing out of his nose, eye surely puffy and bloodshot, he turned his head to see Lina sitting there, legs crossed, and looking anywhere but at him.

“I was drawing my brother.” Her voice was soft. Quiet. Soothing. “When we first met, I told you my brother was killed in a protest. I know it’s only been a few months, but I can hardly remember what he looks like. Not without looking at a picture of him. I thought drawing him would help jog my memory. It didn’t.”

Skylar wondered why she was telling him this. Part of him was angry about it. She was telling him now, when he just learned his father was dead? Didn’t she care about how he felt? Did she have to make everything about herself? Just when he was about to push himself up, just when he was about to run as far as he could from her, she ran her hand through his hair again. The action, so familiar and like his father, caused him to freeze in place before he could move.

“I never knew your father,” she continued. Skylar more felt her shrug than saw it through the tears in his eyes. “And my parents never really paid attention to politics or the government or anything. So, I have no idea what he looks like. But, if you’d like, you can describe him to me, and I can draw him. That way you have something to remember him by.”

Skylar blinked, his gentle sobs reduced to nothing more than sniffles. Another round of tears slid down his cheeks. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. None even went through his mind. His entire vocabulary disappeared in that moment. His tongue felt like it was being held down by a heavy weight. Dryness took over his lips.

“Of course, you don’t have to decide now. It’s a lot to process, I’m sure.” She stopped speaking for a moment, and Skylar heard her take a deep breath. “I’m bad at this whole talking to people thing. I have no idea if you want me here or not, so just tell me if you want to be alone.”

Skylar thought about it for a moment. Part of him did want to be alone. He didn’t think there was anyone he wouldn’t get angry at just for being next to him in that moment. Lina, of course, was the exception. He had only known her for a few months, but it felt as if he might have known her his whole life.

He shook his head. It was a small movement. Barely perceptible even to himself. She, however, immediately picked up on it. Her hand stroked his hair again. Further calm surged through him. Part of him, some small part of him deep inside that might never see the light of day, thought maybe he would make it through this. Not unbroken, but at least whole.

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