Speed kills
01 Apr 2017Matteagle
The Midnight Flash sat on the ground of a canyon. The walls to the left and right rose high, intimidating.In the cockpit was Matthias, looking out at these walls. His arms rested loosely on the side panels, as he repeatedly tipped the joystick. His helmet was off, he took in a deep breath and exhaled.
The only sounds that could be heard were the monotone low hum of the ship's reactor and the sizzling of an open panel. The panel displayed a picture of a white Imperial Eagle and a red and a green regular Eagle a bit set back.
"Remember?" he finally said with a low voice, "remember the days we used to cross this canyon in high speeds? The white days? All the fun we had until that one ...” He sighed. “Oh, boy."
He quickly inhaled through his nose. His eyes followed the edge of the walls down to the horizon while the air slowly left his lungs.
"How many times did we fly here? Our home territory. Nobody could beat us here. You, me, united in speed."
His right hand moved up and and stroked the joystick, he looked at it and tilted his head.
"Nobody," he whispered.
His eyes tightened as he looked back up to the end of the canyon. He took a tight grip of the joystick, with the left hand pressed some buttons off-view.
The drives spooled up and the gear lifted off the ground. He slightly pushed the throttle forward, bringing the ship to a moderate cruising speed. The walls roared by as it glided close to the ground, here and there he evaded obstacles with slight movements on the joystick.
"I still know these grounds like my pockets. There's only one spot that changed."
He pulled the Eagle up to a higher flight level and looked at the picture. Breathing calmly he listened to the sizzling noise of the panel. After a while, he closed it, leaving a fading, decaying noise.
"That day, he died, and part of me with him."
He hit the boost, engines howling up before unloading into a blast of red sparks. The sudden acceleration pushed him into the seat. A grin spread over his face.
With a louder voice, he continued. "Not that I mourn for the old days. It was living on the edge of death. No real nostalgia for that."
The engines returned to lower humming as he pulled back the throttle and pushed the nose down.
"Let's see..."
The canyon made a sharp turn to the left. In the wall ahead gaped a large, circular hole, the ice in the impact crater still black.
"This is the spot," he said and brought the ship to a halt.
Beneath the impact crater lay debris, black, dotted with green.
"Now that's how you put an Eagle to pieces." He chuckled at the look of what had been used to be a part of the landing gear. "I'm surprised they didn't clean up after us."
Again he pushed some buttons, the landing gear deployed and he touched it down steadily with a good view of the debris field.
"So, this my side of the story," he began in narrator voice, "the poor bastard that died here challenged me. Said he was faster than me."
With a tap of a button, the panel came back to life, continuing the sizzling. The picture flickered a bit before it became stable.
"I talked him into a race in this canyon. My canyon." He grinned. "Turned out he was indeed faster. Got a bit of distance on me on the long straight."
Matthias put up his legs on the instruments.
"Well, he didn't see this turn coming. I saw the main drives going black, clearly he tried to cut his speed. Next things happened within seconds. I've turned off flight assist, pulled my ship sideways and hit the boost right before the corner. I passed him to his left, my back pointing in his direction. Apparently I was closer than I thought. There was a spot lighting up on the shield indicator. I had touched him."
Turning to silence, he gazed over the metal scrap.
"'Shiiiiit'," he pressed out between his teeth as he tensed up his body, then relieving it into laughing.
"This was his last word. Didn't realize it myself it was the last of him until his mate screamed over the radio. The one flying the red Eagle here," he pointed at the picture.
"I was just laughing maniacally. Took it for fun until he deployed his weapons and opened fire on me. 'You killed him,' he exclaimed, then I shut up and hit the boost. Evading him was easy, as he had the slowest ship of us three. I tried to communicate that it wasn't my fault, but he kept accusing me of ramming his mate to death."
He put his feet back down and bowed forward.
"So, I decided to flee. Lost him after some jumps. Went into hiding. Few days later he messaged me. His mate really died, crashed so hard into the surface the lifepod wasn't fast enough to conceal him. Put the authorities on my tail for murder."
He leaned back.
"But they couldn't get a hold of me. Bounty timed out eventually, so they were no longer looking for me. What happened to him is another story.”
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Thanks to Phisto for proof-reading and suggestions