– by Vincent Ikari

A young woman sits beneath the trees in a twilight shade, the water about her bare feet is warm with the pleasant heat of the rainforest, small creatures dart between the puddles, eagerly snatching up the bread that falls from her hands before hurrying back into the safety of the dark tree roots, their glowing eyes might seem frightening to someone who’d never seen them before. The girl smiles, watching two of the furry critters wrestling over a large piece of bread that was soaked in the warm water near her feet, she wore faded overalls that were at least two sizes too big, the logo stamped across its back had long since rubbed off. It was a scene of blissful tranquility, she remembered playing here as a child, back when life was simple, back when Gods were just something you prayed to when the teachers told you, and never quite believed in.

Soon the air grew denser, a low hum resonates through the trees and the ground began to rumble, the woodland creatures fled into their holes in terror, soon the humming turned to a violent blast of unending heat and furious noise, the girl sighs and turns her eyes skyward while donning the ear protectors slung around her neck as several hundred million tons of metal thundered overhead, the trees thrashed as though they would fall but soon the noise was gone, replaced by a crackling voice.

“First freighter of the day Anni, get your ass back here already, breaks over”

She sighs again, turning to the edge of the forest and gazing down into the landing fields, burnt into the heart of the woodland by the new settlers two summers back, with the Charon class freighter high overhead, a great streak across the sky behind marked its passage, unloading craft already heading up towards it as though on intercept course. Even here, several miles away, she could smell the sickly scent of oil and fuel, boiling water, the smell of progress she remembered her old boyfriend remarking when the corporation had first arrived, a month before he was burnt to death by an exploding fuel silo. She wondered if he’d take those words back if he were alive now, somehow she thought he would.

Higher above the Charon still, you could see the orbiting fleet, they looked like a tightly packed formation of stars from down here, she wondered how many shooting stars she’d wished on from this very spot years ago were simply spaceships too. Anni took a deep breath, leaving her childhood self behind in the forest to begin the trek back to the landing fields, she thought about how the world had changed since the coming of these people from beyond the stars, of course she’d heard the stories, spacefaring nations, immortal heroes, incredible wealth and fame, famous and infamous characters alike, but it had all seemed to surreal, so far away, it wasnt real, it couldnt be. But then they’d come, she remembered standing behind her parents in awe with eyes wide as the first ships made landfall, she remembered the bottle of drink given to her by a smiling pilot, though she’d long since forgotten the name, Quafe perhaps, she remembered the promises of
medical and industrial progression far beyond the relatively primitive facilites that existed before, of course the government had signed on the dotted line eagerly, letting their irreplacable rainforests be burnt away for landing fields, their children hired into dangerous and low paid jobs and their folklore and history replaced with faceless corporate adverts and institutes.

It wasnt as bad now as it was, at least, eventually people had enough and there was revolution, unfortunate that a desire for free will was not the ideal weapon to use against soldiers and spaceships, and both her parents had been killed in the fights, the fires burnt for days, napalm torpedoes delivered by stars high in the night sky had sent entire cities to hell in horrific firestorm, it must have been the shortest war in history, and it was a time everyone would rather forget. Though it got worse before it got better, for Anni.
The battles hadnt been entirely one sided however, and angry soldiers hungry for vengeance for their fallen comrades fell upon the ravaged cities like a pack of wild wolves, she spent what felt like weeks in a cold cell after having been dragged from the wreckage of her home, naked and screaming tears for her lost family. When they eventually let her out, it seemed like a different world, the cities were gone, paved over
and replaced with efficient pre-fab housing flown in from off-world. She guessed the rumours of a change of management high up in the corporation had actually had some effect at least, for once.

Anni found work as a dancer at the local bar, one of the few remaining buildings from the old city, it had been a poorly built place before the war, and now looked even more decrepid alongside the efficient corporate constructions. Displaying her desirable body to people who had often been aboard cramped starships for months earned a decent living, but it wasnt until she became involved with a young caldari navy officer that her less entertaining talents came to light.
She was a gifted engineer, able to fix just about anything, with a mind that instinctively knew how something should work, and why it wasn’t, she hung up her dancers bikini and joined the auxiliary engineers corp, working with the navy to repair damaged ships and modules with the occasional malfunctioning toaster, she seemed to have found her calling, oil and dirt, just another day on the job. Not that much different from dancing you might say.

She was close to the landing fields now, the taste of fuel in her mouth snapped her from the daydreams, watching the crews scrambling about like ants, she could see the commanding officer also, clad in his pristine uniform as he directed the workers, she lowered her goggles over her sparkling blue eyes, pushing her unwashed blonde hair aside.

“Back to work”.