Breaking the Spirit

[Heresy]

Since Francesca had started her new job, Timothy had resumed his secondary education with his sister taking a more motherly role. Even away from each other, they maintained communication regularly. Some kind of normality in his life had been restored, despite everything that had happened.

The bank accounts grew too, his sisters lavish salary the cause.

But the communication stopped. The same day that the border station to Tau 31 had been sieged by a Rheinland Cruiser. The same day Timothy saw two Rheinlanders in the equipment dealer close by.

A few days passed without word, and then a small letter arrived to the house that his sister had rented for him. Almost without opening it, he knew what it was.

He read through the death notice, silent tears streaming down his face. At this point, he’d had enough. Everything lost, it was too much. His mother, his father, his sister, his two brothers, all dead. He was barely 16.

Timothy decided to withdraw all the savings and went to the equipment and ship dealer. Richard Winston Tobias was his name.

He saw the broken boy in front of him. He saw the tears, the sodden sleeves from wiping away the tears and the snot, and the intense fury in his eyes. Tobias tried to convince the boy not to purchase a new craft, but to no avail. As much as he didn’t want to send the boy to his death, it was obvious that he had his own score to settle with fate. So recently back from losing some close friends of his own, Tobias sympathised with the boy.

So, Tim purchased a hawk, fully kitted out and ready to go. He received a crash course in flight, the bare minimum to fly, and he took off into the deep black.

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