Ce mois-ci, n'ayant pas trouvé l'inspi pour continuer le chapitre 4 de DC/RC ( ;^; ), j'ai eu l'idée d'une petite nouvelle. J'espère qu'elle vous plaira
Merci d'être passé par là et bonne lecture!
I curled up against the warm body of my mother. A small breeze flowed in the tall grass. She cradled me in her arms, shielding us from the chilly night with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Despite being so close to the city, it was dark. As usual, street lights had been turned off. Our heads were turned towards the sky.
Suddenly, Mother pointed at the starlit night.
“There… What do you see?”
I looked as closely as I could, squinting my eyes, trying to discern something in the dark, until…
“A constellation!”
Mother chuckled.
“That’s right, love. Now, what is its name? I’m sure you know it…”
“That’s the Little Bear!”
She ruffled my hair with a kind smile as I pointed to the different celestial bodies, telling her everything I knew about the pot-shaped constellation, which was not much. When I was done, Mother took my hand in hers. Using our interlocked fingers, she pointed to one of the brightest stars.
“This is Kochab”, she murmured to my ear.
She ducked her head right next to mine and her long, soft hair caressed my cheek. I was encased by the smell of her clothes and skin. Her warm breath skidded over my ear, my jaw. She told me about of all the stars that created the constellation.
“Now, love, if someday you are lost and need to find your path at night, remember to use the help of Ursa Minor and…” She guided my hand towards the tail of the constellation. “Your star. Ishtar.”
I gasped.
“That’s my name!”
Mother smiled to me.
“Yes, love. This is your star.”
“It’s mine…?” I asked, eyes full of wonder.
Mother nodded, humming softly in agreement.
“It’s there to make sure you never get lost.”
Ishtar. Venus.
My ragged breath fogged up on the reinforced Plexiglas lens of my helmet. The shuttle was shaking violently, its engine whining as it neared to its end, lights blinking rapidly on the board, alerts screeching in the pod. Blood poured between my fingers, which were pressed against my stomach. My other hand was shaky on the controls.
“Shit, come on” I rasped quietly. “Just a little more…”
I pushed the thrusters even more than they already were, trying to get closer to the hellish-looking planet. I knew escaping was fruitless. They were too close. The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that they would not shoot.
It had been nothing but a lie… Ishtar held nothing but destruction. It was no longer a guiding light through the night.
As the pod sped towards Ishtar, I pressed my hand against the window, looking out into space. Stars and planets were splattered like a painting in the dark void. They were so many of them… I felt so small. I was alone. I was half tempted to give up, to let myself get captured, to let this be the end. They were asking so much from me.
I closed my eyes, gasping briefly as pain shot through my chest. I knew what I had to do. Turning back to the front, I leaned towards the control panel. I did not notice the bloody handprint I had left on the strengthened glass. I flicked some switches up.
I was startled by the tell-tale rapid beeping sound of an imminent transmission. The screen in front of me lighted up and I was faced with Mother. I froze up, my hand hovering above the panel.
Neither of us said anything for a few seconds. She covered her mouth with her hand, eyes growing large, shock and fear clear on her face. I felt my throat close up.
“Ishtar…” Mother breathed out between her fingers in a whisper.
She looked sad. Tears shone in her eyes. I let a shuddering breath out. I looked at her graying, curly hair, flowing carelessly above her shoulders in a hairstyle I had never seen her wear before. The side-part made her look younger, rounding her face. Her eyes, albeit showing so much hurt, held the sparkle of life, transforming her deep-blue eyes into a quiet storm of conflicted emotions.
“What are you doing, love...?” Her voice choked up in sadness and fear.
Flinching, I pressed my eyes shut, ducking my head and clenching my jaw, forcing myself to continue what I had been doing.
“Ishtar, please. Stop this madness, this isn’t you” pleaded Mother.
I shook my head violently and let out a broken moan. I could easily picture her crestfallen expression, the upturned corners of her mouth, her drawn-up eyebrows, the shining glint of tear-tracks on her cheeks… Pain. Raw, unconcealed pain, the same one I had seen on her face when I had left.
“Please, love –”
“Stop using her!” I shouted, my hoarse voice covering the alarms momentarily.
Mother looked taken aback.
“What –? Ishtar, please, I don’t understand.”
Tears prickled my eyes and rolled down my nose, only to crash onto the lens of my helmet. I was torn apart. Disgust clawed its way into my throat. How dare they.
“My mother died five years ago” I spat angrily at the screen. “Do not defile her memory with your cheap attempt at corrupting me, scum.”
A faint surprise painted Mother’s face, but it only lasted a second. Her expression turned haughty and scornful. When she spoke, she had a man’s voice. I felt my muscles tense up as realization crashed over me. I knew him.
“I see.”
The illusion faded with a shimmering glint. A cruel smile stretched on the lips of Admiral Dejbreach, a smile that only brought nightmares and pain to those who had seen it.
“So they did keep you updated” he continued.
Tilting his head to one side, he took in my appearance.
“Now, now, Ishtar, I’ve seen you in better shape.”
“Fuck you” I spat back.
I turned back to the program I had been running, flicking switches up, pressing buttons down, as he let a disapproving tut out. The shuttle shook violently as it hit a debris surrounding Venus. I let out a painful gasp, clutching my jarred, bleeding wound tighter.
Dejbreach let a deep hum out.
“Stomach wound” he announced dispassionately. “You know what that means, right?”
Of course I did. I felt my hand tremble over my wound, my body in agony as I felt the acids slowly disperse inside of it. Without medical care, I would die a slow, painful death. I forced myself to breathe deeply, willing the burning sensation to ebb away.
My other hand danced across the panel, out of sight, performing a much-rehearsed choreography, aware the imminent threat, rushed by a quickly-running out time. I just needed a minute to complete the sequencing program.
Admiral Dejbreach was a competent and ruthless soldier, but his biggest flaw was his tendency to boast, a flaw I intended to take advantage of.
“I know you’re trying to stall me” I said, exhaustion clear in my voice. “You think you can catch me.”
“Of course we can” Dejbreach said with a confident smirk on his face. “And we will. Our ships are faster than yours. Capturing you is only a matter of minutes.”
He was right. Turning to the window, I saw Empire ships closing in on mine. Adrenaline shot through my veins.
“And how long have you been chasing me for?” I asked sarcastically. “Heh, who would have thought it would take this much time for the Great Empire to catch a single, defenseless Resistance shuttle.”
The program was almost done. Dejbreach looked briefly to the side, his smirk wavering only slightly.
“A small set-back –”
“You were scanning my pod for viruses, weren’t you, Dejbreach?”
His eye twitched. I leaned forward, observing his face.
“Oh, but you were” I murmured. “Even though you know this model is so old it wouldn’t even upload a virus strong enough to disable your top-engineered ships, even though my broken long-range antenna can probably be seen from Mars and my only way of communicating would be hailing a message from my emergency frequency…”
A twisted grin spread itself on my face as a red display lighted on my board. The program was complete. The sequencing was about to begin.
“Wouldn’t want to be hacked again, would you?”
His smirk had disappeared and his jaw clenched violently. Reminding him of the day I had slipped through his overconfident fingers had worked.
“I will enjoy torturing you, Ishtar” he spoke coolly.
His voice was strained, his anger barely repressed.
“Sorry, Dejbreach” I sighed as I settled back into my seat, letting my head fall against the headrest.
Soon.
“I’d rather die as a free man.”
Rage flashed on his face, lighting a fire in his eyes.
“Oh, you will die” Dejbreach breathed.
He slammed his hand on the screen.
“You will, when I allow you to, after I am done breaking your mind and your body, after you reveal to me every last rebel base locations, screaming and begging for mercy. Only then will you die, alone, as a pariah.”
Hate and venom laced his voice. He was leaning forward, looking at me intensely, as if he could bore a hole between in my head with his eyes.
My only answer was a bloody, tired smile. A chuckle left my chest, and transformed quickly into a full-fledged laugh, head thrown back, mouth opened. It ended as a rough cough raked through my lungs. I folded in on myself, trying to get my breathing back in check. It hurt. It hurt so much. A sudden tiredness washed over my body. It was time. I slumped back into the seat and looked at Dejbreach.
Suddenly, almost all power from the pod was derived to the back. The engine stopped, the alarms were cut off, the control panel shut down. The screen was still powered, as was the red display. The fiery red of the planet lit the inside of the pod and, as I looked beyond the screen, I saw the quickly approaching outline of an orbiting base.
Dejbreach was alarmed. He was frantically reading something on his right as his crew started shouting about what their scanners had found.
As my arm fell weakly to the side of the seat and the red display read the number One, I heard one word. A tear slipped on my cheek.
Bomb.
Merci d'avoir lu ♥
La bise ~
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