Biography of Christopher Edwards

[Akhetaten]

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Chapter 2: Teenage Years

A new beginning

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The boy wakes up feeling out of place, his eyes slowly open and he can quickly tell that he is in a hospital room. He feels weak, and can barely move his body. Looking downwards he realizes there's one syringe in each of his arms. A lady is sitting near the bed he's on. "Oh, you are awake. Thank god you are awake, I was afraid you would never wake up from your comma. You must feel lost." She tells the boy with a very sweet and loving tone. "Where... Have you seen my father?" Christopher asks the lady, and she looks back at him confused. "There was no one else on the ship's cargo hold.. And we never got the chance to interrogate the ship's pilot as he was killed in the crash. I'm... sorry about your father. She responds. Christopher's eyes fill with tears as he stutters. "No... he.. He. It can't be. He's not dead. I will find him... He... can't.. be.. The boy faints and a tear runs down the lady's cheek I can't just leave him like that... He seems determined... Hmm.. He is young, probably inexperienced in flying... but I guess I can train him. He probably has no one left to care for him, I... I can't leave him. She thinks as she exits the room.

A few hours go by, and the kind lady visits Christopher's room once again. She walks in and sees the boy still knocked out, so she takes a seat near the bed. She can tell that the boy has been harassed a lot and lived a painful life, just judging by his arms. The boy looks exhausted, malnourished, she can only imagine the things those scums have done to him.

Christopher slowly wakes up again, opening his eyes to look at the lady Hey... thank you.. for rescuing me.. I'm sorry about earlier. My name's Christopher. He tells her while looking into her eyes. The lady is impressed by how calm the boy is this time, she smiles. Don't be, it is expected. You are calm now and that's all that matters!. Also it's very nice to meet you Christopher, I am Captain Felicia." The boy looks at her, visibly confused. "Captain? A Captain came to rescue me? I thought all Captains did was sit in their offices and let the lower ranking officers do their own work for them." He replies to her in a very innocent and childish manner. Felicia laughs "No you silly. That's not what Captains do, I don't know who told you that but whoever it is needs a good update! We fly around and intercept smugglers and pirates as much as all other ranks do. We do have more paperwork to file, but that doesn't mean you won't see us in space!" She tells him calmly and with much care on her voice. "I will train you, Christopher. After some thought in the past hours I decided I cannot leave you like this. I will make an amazing pilot out of you, and we will search for your father together!" She follows up with a smile on her face. The boy seems very happy to hear her say that. "But now you have to get back to sleep, you need to get a lot of rest, Chris. We will speak again tomorrow! Goodnight." She waves as she leaves the room and turns off the lights, leaving the boy to sleep.

Christopher spends the next few days giving Captain Felicia information about his past life. Felicia was asking countless questions about the people who took him, and if Christopher had any clue where they had taken him. The two get really close, and Felicia tells him everything about the place they are in, Liberty. She guides him around her astonishing ship and tells him stories about her past life.

"So... what exactly do you do in your work when you aren't filing papers Felicia?" The boy asks. "The Navy is always busy Chris, we make sure Liberty is safe from any threat, foreign or domestic. We oversee the cargo convoys with the Liberty Police and punish those who aren't abiding to the law. Occasionally we assist research teams salvage ships and perhaps rescue survivors, deep in pirate territory. That's how we found the ship carrying you. We were on the middle of a search and rescue mission and then our scanners picked up a hostile ship. Unfortunately the pilot did not respond to any communications and instead just stopped his vessel and remained silent, so.. we did what we had to." Felicia's tone seems concerned, and slightly sad "Hey.. don't worry about it. You did what you had to! You rescued me and that is all that matters Felicia." Christopher says as he hugs Felicia.

The next few years of Christopher's life go by smoothly; life is finally smiling at him. With his father on his mind everyday Christopher practices with Felicia as often as they can and sets a goal to become a great and respected pilot, much like his father, so that one day he can find him and rescue him. By the time Christopher reached the age of 17 he begun participating in the investigations that were taking place for the past years to find his father. The results of the research were fruitless, most investigation parties had quite searching by then as they assumed the father was dead, but Christopher wasn't going to give up. With Felicia's support he kept scouting the most dangerous places for any clues as to his father's whereabouts. One day, Felicia and her crew ran into another smuggler transporting slaves, who was eventually captured after giving a tough fight.

"What do you want from me? I told you everything I knew. You have the damned people rescued and the ship scrapped, just put me into jail and leave me the hell alone." Felicia has been asking questions to this man for the past few hours, pending Christopher's return to base after her hail. She leaves the man alone in the interrogation chamber and waits outside.

Christopher enters the building, and salutes Felicia before hugging her. The two of them have gotten even more closer in the past years. "Is he in there?" Chris asks in a concerned manner "Yeah.. but be wary, he's not exactly willing to answer any more questions." Felicia replies Don't worry, I'll be pretty straight forward with him.

Christopher enters the interrogation chamber and in it he sees the man. Christopher walks towards him and stands still in front of him for a few seconds. "What is it now? More damned questions? I told your friend there I'm si-" The man is cut short by Christopher slapping him and getting a tight grip around his neck "Listen here bastard, you'll either cooperate or you''ll have me do things to you I don't even want to imagine, in either case the outcome is the same. You answering every single question I have to ask you, and then being sent to the cell you deserve to spend the rest of your life in, the choice is yours." He lets go of the mans neck and he replies while heavily breathing "Okay.. okay.. I'll help you.. please, I just want to live." The man replies while out of breath "I am pleased to hear that." Christopher replies, he then takes a seat and proceeds with the questions.

"You were caught transporting slaves. Where did you get the slaves from? What base in which system?| Christopher begins with his first question. "I. I picked up the slaves from an.. asteroid base. It was somewhere in California." The man replies. "Somewhere in California..? How about you be a little more specific." Christopher is looking directly at the man with an angry look on his face "Ugh.. Sorry.. Yes. It was Alcatraz. Alcatraz Depot in California." Christopher seems pleased with the man's answer. "How many more slaves were at that base?" He goes on to ask the man the next question. "I... I don't know.. Ho..How would I? It's ... It's a lot of slaves sir.. I.. I can't tell how many.." The words coming out of the man's mouth are barely recognizable due to the stuttering. Christopher has heard enough. He gets up and walks towards the door. "I'm done with him. Do with him as you please." He closes the door behind him and walks away, with Felicia right behind him.

Christopher and Felicia headed to their ships and undocked from the base to head to California and locate that pirate base the man was referring to. After several hours of research the base was spotted, and soon later a large Navy fleet was present at the location. The people aboard the base were smart enough to not show any resistance and let the Navy ships dock on the bases hangars. Lot's of soldiers armed to the teeth with cutting edge weaponry emerged from the docked ships, and investigations aboard the base begun. After roughly a few minutes a large cavity was found deep inside the base. Seeing the cavity, Christopher had flashbacks of his former life as a slave and a tear went down his cheek. The sides of the cavity were full of prison cells, inside which were people. All seemingly malnourished and exhausted.

"Search every corner of this cave. I want everybody inside here rescued and taken back to base." Felicia orders her men, while she along with Christopher join the search.

Just after a few minutes of searching, Christopher comes across a cell with a man who is half knocked out in it. The man looks familiar.. Chris tries to open the gate, but it's stuck in position. "Hey, I need a laser cutter here, let's get this door open." A cutting crew is in position a few minutes later and begin cutting the door open.

The sound of the metal door hitting the ground echoes in the cave systems as Christopher slowly walks inside the cell, keeping his head down so as to not hit it on the cell's ceiling. Could it... be..? He thinks as he get's closer to the man.

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End of Chapter 2