by Whistler Bean

“We’re broadcasting live from the inside of Ishukone headquarters in Malkalen where the scene is utter chaos. This summit was suppose to bring hope to Gallente-Caldari relations-”

I think I stopped paying attention to the broadcast from The Scope network right then through my mobile comms. device plugged onto my right ear. Everyone inside the station knew what was happening: a Nyx-class mothership was heading straight for the station.

I was separated from my family, who I left behind in the level below me in the station. I was looking for something to eat, but there were no good place to grab a quick snack back there. When the first call for evacuation went out, my mom called me over the mobile device, saying that they were safe. My mom, my father, and my brat of a sister. They were safe. They got onboard a Caldari freighter and were undocking soon. When mom asked me where I was, I told her I was on-board a cruiser that was just about to undock.

But in reality I was still inside the station after being turned away from another evacuating shuttle. I saw people pounding on the airlock as it closed, desperately pleading to the Empyrean pilot to take their children at least. But she said no. She had to go or let the ones inside the shuttle die with the rest.

I could only hear the screams of children looking for their parents, and parents looking for their kids. Other people looking for their friends, their boyfriends and girlfriends, in all the languages that was spoken in the galaxy. Some were on their knees and praying to their God, and I only assumed they were Amarrians. Godless or not, at the time I thought we all shared the same fate – we are all going to die and there is nothing we can do.

I remember sprinting away from the shuttle bay after hearing someone say that there was a cruiser taking in evacuees right until the last moment. But on the opposite side of the station. I didn’t know whether I was going to make it or not. I didn’t know if the cruiser was still taking evacuees or if was still there. I ran as fast as I could toward the connecting elevator to get to the other side of the station.

Upon reaching the elevator and mashing the recall button repeatedly, I fell a shudder and then the floor below me seems to collapse downward. Was it the mothership? Did it collide into the station already? Screams of the people seem to amplify then. They didn’t know either on why the station started to shake so violently. A sudden gust of wind blew me right against the elevator door along with two other people, a man and a woman. I think they were Achuras. The woman was screaming something in a language I couldn’t understand to the man. I looked toward the airlock where people were still standing and saw a large fireball came down from the level above us and consumed them whole. Some of them were still screaming as the fireball pass them by and a large piece of dark green coloured debris crushed them. The fireball came toward where I was and I could see was a bright orange wall then I was pushed away from the elevator by another concussive force.

A strange thing here.

When I woke up this morning, I was told by my parents that I should dress formally because father wanted us to look more fancy. His words, not mine. We were meeting an important businessman who represented Ishukone. So when I was dressed in my formalwear along with newly shined brown shoes, probably shined by a Gallente-made drone, I remember how I hated wearing black pants. And the damned shoes too.

As my head was turned toward the elevator shaft and saw the Achura couple crushed by another piece of dark green coloured debris, all I was wondering of how that bloodied severed leg, covered in a black-coloured fabric with a shiny brown shoe, looked a lot like my leg. I didn’t even feel a shrapnel from the explosion sever my leg clean off. I didn’t know that at the time. All I could wonder whether that severed limb was mine or not as I was flying across the floor.

And when I landed hard on the floor, I think I blacked out. I could have thought about how my family had made it out of the station in time, or how long were those people alive for when the fireball consumed them, or whether those Achura couple felt anything when they were crushed by the debris.

No. I remember all I could think of at the last moment was how I was going to afford new pairs of pants and shoes.

—

This is a prologue for an Eve fiction I’ve been thinking about for a while. The title, Fifteenth of May, refers to the Malkalen Incident that occurred almost five years ago, a catalytic event that lead to the start of the Empyrean Wars (aka, the Faction Warfare). The story will be told through four major characters. Some are capsuleers, some are not. But they all share a similarity: they were there when the FNS Wandering Saint crashed into the Malkalen station and witnessed how one man’s action reignited wars and hatred amongst humanity and capsuleers alike. And how old wounds just don’t close so easily…

ORIGINAL POST

—

Why am I posting this on my blog? Well, you see, Whistler Bean needed some motivation. His mistake, if you can call it that, was mentioning his procrastination to me, and we all know I’m not one for excuses of any kind. I told him straight up that he had to publish a written piece by a certain date or I would publicly embarrass him – something that would be quite uncomfortable for sweet, shy Bean. Obviously the tactic worked, and I look forward to reading more of this tale.

As an unexpected surprise, this particular incident is something that had great importance to me. In fact, it was such a strong influence that it’s a featured track on my first EVE inspired album, Bio.

Well done.