The Price of Sight

[jammi]

There was a dull ringing in my ears. Explosion. Just stop the noise... My vision flared as I wretched up a bit of blood. I could taste the metallic taste of death in my mouth. I hurt. Those Hessian gringos had beat me up bad.

I was fairly sure my arm was broken too. The wrist was at an unusual angle. I didnt seem to be able to feel it though. I tried to move my arm and failed. It just hung next to me, suspended by the zero gravity.

I coughed up more blood. The impact must have done something inside me lungs? Maybe my stomach. There was blood all down my front... The life support was failing too. I could feel the cold now. My breath coiled in front of me as I hung limp in my harness.

My Titan had been jumped by Hessians as I had run against Ronneburg with my hermanos. An EMP mine had hit my ship. Engines, sensors, hope. Gone. A technician could have easily restarted the system, from the outside. The others had been pushed back and the Rhienlanders had taken me for dead, another ghost ship alike the others that littered the system. I had wept tears of pain and betrayal as the last Titans were chased away. Then the darkness had taken me.

Now it was returning, bitter and twisted. I had fought the darkness for too long. Surely it was.... Easiest. To. Give. In... The blackness came and plucked me away. I had failed.

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[jammi]

One hour earlier

This is Cadiz control Raiders Gold wing, all pilots report to the hangers, I repeat, Raiders Gold wing, all pilots report to the hanger! The tannoy had been calling us for the last two minutes. I had been sitting in Cadizs pilots bar with Custo Benitez, an Elder of his noble Familia.

I had known him since we were children, but there our paths had split. My eyes had stopped me from joining him as a raider among the stars, taking what the Corsair Empire needed and burning what it didnt. I had been relegated to a supply freighter, moving supplies between the bases on the fringes of the Empires territory. It wasnt glamorous, but I was serving. Serving the people of Crete in the only way I could.

That had changed a month ago. Custo had pulled strings, cashed in favours and greased palms for my birthday. Hed had me deliver a load of Artefacts to the Hogosha in Kusari, under the pretences of improving relations between them and the Familia. Of course itd been a trick and I got my eyes fixed by a Kusari specialist, which then qualified me to fly as a fighter pilot.

On the return home, hed greeted me with a smile and a set of keys. A Titan courtesy of a certain Corsair Familia whod valued my service over the last few years. And now I was a pilot in Raiders Gold wing... A notorious outfit based from Cadiz. I was due to head out on my first attack.

Custo had given me some advice follow the wing leaders commands, trust my instincts not my sensors and above all to elate in the destruction of the Corsairs enemies. Then we were in the hangers. Six Titans were arranged around the cave, fuel lines attached to their flanks like obese leeches. Deck crews were stowing munitions, ready for the fight.

Then we had been told how we would attack by Jose Mendez, the wing leader and a proven Ace with an almost uncountable number of kills to his name. The left side of his face was a patchwork of scars where, supposedly, his Titans sensor readout had imploded inwards after an unlucky mine strike. I got the impression he didnt entirely trust me.

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[jammi]

Well be approaching from the flanks to try and draw out their defences. If our amigos in Intel are correct there should only be a garrison of Stilettos for the next few days. Perfect time to attack. He hacked up a piece of flem and spat on the floor. Grey eyes probed the men who stood around him. Youre all ready for this, Si? If not, leave now. Weve no room for cowards. I noticed his eyes rest on me for a length of time.

There were some mutters from the other pilots hollow words of bravado. I could feel fear gnawing inside me, but a rush of adrenaline washed it away. I was going to fight. I was going to fight!

We all moved away to our respective ships; mine the Luz De Guia, ready to fly, to fight, to conquer. I thumbed the controls nervously, feeling power conduits spark into life and engines flare into activity. The Titan thrummed to action, ready to leap into the void at my command.

Flight control gave the word, and one by one we proceeded to the airlock, our ships dropping out to face a hostile universe. Outside, I felt the thrill of command, the Titans armoured bulk swooping around the asteroids that blocked its path with a heavy grace. I had flown through this system before, but only at the helm of a sluggish freighter. This was different. This was magic!

A communication was patched across to me, Mendez chiding me, telling me to get in formation. I locked onto his ship and fell in behind. Cruise engines were activated as one, and before long we were powering forward. Breaching the Haman Hole we set out to meet our Destiny.

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[jammi]

Break left! Attack! There was a thumping recoil as my weapons discharged for the first time in anger. A Stiletto banked sharply to avoid the salvo, dipping under the energy beams. I cursed and wheeled around to try and get on his six. Live combat was far harder than the sim-pods would let you believe.

I could see Jose duelling with two Stilettos, dropping ones shield and mauling its hull. I watched the Rhienlander scum careen into an asteroid and explode, the pilot screaming his last in his foul language. There were a few sparse cheers over the radio as other combatants diverted their attention for a second.

Then I was thrown forward as my shields were hit, static electricity buzzing over my hands as I yanked on the controls to bring the ship around. Blazing at the attacker I managed to chase him away.

There was a sharp intake of breath from the radio. Hermanos! Look out, weve got Odins undocking! Intel was wrong! There was a triumphant cheer from the bases defenders as the Hessian elite fighters closed the distance. With a snarl of rage Jose disengaged from his hapless prey and headed for the new hostiles. I stuck on his tail, blazing at the remaining Stilettos with my rear turret as I went.

Our two lines clashed in a blaze of firepower. Jose singled out the leader of the enemy wing, leaving me to fight a different Odin with another member of my wing. I could feel the battle rage flowing through my veins I felt invincible!

The illusion was shattered as a group of fighters targeted me, shattering my shields. Shot after shot fell on my armoured bulk. Now I felt fear. The computer screamed over and over hull integrity failing! I throttled the thrusters, trying to dodge the lethal shots that rained on me until my taxed shield generators could reactivate.

Too late I saw it. A near invisible wafer directly ahead of me, primed to explode and too late to avoid. I closed my eyes as it struck me with a blinding light, then darkness engulfed me.

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[jammi]

Two hours later

It was cold. So cold. I shivered now, the blood crusted down my front. Id occasionally wretch up more, but Id mostly stopped. That was something. It was getting hard to breath as well. Id had to take two or three deep breaths just to undo my harness and that had made my head spin.

After Id regained consciousness, the scene out of the cockpit window had changed. Id drifted away from the battle site. The rocks were different, and I couldnt see any ships, friendly or Hessian. I was going to die...

With my ship dead I couldnt send a signal, and the air was going. The heat was too... With blue, shaking hands I fumbled with the holster attached to my leg. With numb fingers I withdrew the gun and stared at it. Could I do it?

I was fated to die a slow, excruciating death in the empty wastes of space. Could I end it? Stop the suffering? I clicked the laser pistols safety catch off, and placed it under my chin, shutting my eyes. I was shaking all over, and not just from the terrible cold.

I couldnt do it. With a snarl of rage I threw the weapon across the tiny cockpit, watching it spin through the thinning air to bounce off the thick view-screen shielding and settle against a wall.

Minuet by minuet dragged by, the air becoming harder and harder to breath with each expiring second. Now my lungs laboured to simply keep me conscious, black tingeing the edges of my vision.

Then something moved. I heaved my eyes open again to peer out of the cockpit. There was a ship nose to nose with mine. A Rhienland ship. A Wraith? I did not know or care. There was no more air. I slumped forward, drifting slowly forward.

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[Das Wilde Wesen]

**We View**

***Passion***

***Interest***

**We watch as lifeforce drains from this Matterbeing**

***Interest***

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[Das Wilde Wesen]

**this one, useful?**

*We Strech, power -human- device that sustains matterlife*

**We Wait**

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[jammi]

I came around slowly. The control panel in front of me thrummed gently, power now coursing through it. The air I was breathing was back too and the cockpit was filled by a pleasant warmth. I flailed my legs around in an attempt to force myself down into the seat and reapply the harness, without much luck. Catching hold of the edge of a panel on the roof with my good arm, I pushed down, gliding down into the seat.

Landing I jarred my other arm, causing a torrent of agony to race up the limb. I cried out in shock, my vision momentarily tingeing red. I could definately feel my arm now. White hot pain flowed from the snapped wrist, which was now swollen and puffy. Feeling tears of pain and rage wetting my cheeks I gritted my teeth and reached for the first aid kit that was always under the pilots chair.

A few seconds later I had jabbed myself in the leg with a syringe that contained a mixture of adrenaline and other pain-killing drugs. Only then did I pay attention to my surroundings. The Wraith was still there, hanging serenely in front of me. There seemed to be a sort of glow emitting from it. It seemed as if it shouldnt be there, like it didnt fit with its mundane surroundings. It reeked of... Otherness. Four Dimensional in a 3D universe.

And why had the power returned? What did the ship want? With my good hand, I pulled back on the throttle then yanked on the wheel to bring me around, to escape back to the safety of Cadiz. Nothing happened. The steering was dead. I did a quick diagnostic check through the ships computer.

Comms down. Steering down. Radar down. Shielding down. Weapons down. Life support and engines... Active. I gave the throttle another hopeful tug, with only a repeat of my previous attempt to show for it. So, active engines with no way to access them from the cockpit? I tucked my broken arm into my flight jacket and peered out of the cockpit at the Rhienlander that hung in front of me. Why wasnt it doing anything?

It should have been attacking [color=#FFFFFF]**matterbeing** me. Then I [color=#FFFFFF]**awake** paused. Those words werent mine.

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[Das Wilde Wesen]

**Awareness**

**We Use this -human-**

***Deception***

*We move -humanship-*

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[jammi]

The Wraith gently turned about and blasted away in a cloud of green exhaust. I breathed a sigh of relief. Until my ship shuddered as the engines activated and set off after it. I was dragged a steady distance behind the weaving Wraith, bobbing around asteroids as I approached them.

Screaming I beat on the control panel, trying to do anything to stop my out-of-control ship. Yanking on the steering wheel, nothing happened. Then the comms opened up filling the cockpit with the crackling of static. The white noise intensified as a whispering voice spoke. It sounded as if vocal cords were stretching and cracking as if they hadnt been used for decades.

The Light has come matterbeing. Then the whispers came, rasping on my very mind, seeming to come from behind me, however I turned. Now sobbing in absolute terror I curled up on the floor next to the pilots seat, wrapping my one good arm around my knees.

We were approaching a jumphole now. The voices in my head intensified, growing louder and louder. A sudden pain stabbed into my head, feeling like someone was driving a wedge between my eyes. The wittering voices momentarily formed one word.

*Sleep*

Blood erupted from my nose, a shrieking scream escaping my lips. Then I fell, the blackness returning once more.

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