Beautiful Cherry Blossoms
Author: Korsavius
Original post: https://backstage.eve-inspiracy.com/index.php?topic=6268.msg105289#msg105289
Author’s Note: This is the conclusion of a previous story I wrote, Dead Man Walking. Of course, you are by no means required to read the previous story, but reading both stories will greatly help put the pieces of the puzzle together. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this tale. Comments welcome!
Entry for the YC116 Pod and Planet Fiction Contest in the A Day in the Life category.
It has been about a month. A month since her passing. She held out for as long as she could, but, in the end, she became one with the Maker. She is at peace now. That doesn’t make it any less painful. The memories come surging back in.
-
“Oh Korbin, I am so proud of you!” The woman smiles wide, causing slight wrinkles to form gentle crevices all across her face. She clasps a teardrop-shape jade amulet as she speaks.
“My son, my humble son, soon to be joining the ranks of the starstriders! Once you graduate from the university, be sure the first thing you buy is a ticket home! And...,” she continues, “happy birthday! The cake I ordered should have reached your apartment by now. I hope you like it!” Korbin looks over at the half-eaten cake sitting on the kitchen table, and smiles.
“Right, well, I have to go for now. Remember to leave a reply this time!” She blows a kiss to the camera drone, and cuts off the feed. The hologram projecting the pre-recorded message dissipates, and a new menu materializes. He comes near to selecting the “leave reply” option, but, upon checking the time, opts for the “remind me later” option.
He rises from his seat, only to have reality begin disintegrating around him. The room becomes a violent maelstrom of colors which fade to blackness. He feels himself falling. He falls endlessly into this darkness. His heart races as he falls, and sweat beads trickle down his face. One moment he falls, and the next he finds himself standing. He darts his head around anxiously looking, searching for something. Only empty blackness greets him. He hears a voice, and swings around. His mother stands peacefully under an old cherry blossom tree that overlooks the coast where he grew up. He reaches out to her. He begins sprinting. He calls out to her. All efforts to reach her serve to no avail. She grows further and further away from him, until finally he is falling again. A swarm of cherry blossoms swirl around him as he falls. He begins sweating again, and out of nowhere he hears the agonizing screams of his mother. The cherry blossoms swirling around him turn to blood.
Korbin jolts up from his slumber, panting and drenched in sweat. It was just a dream. He looks over at the clock beside his bed. It reads 3:25 in the morning. Another restless night. He sighs. Korbin pulls the blankets off and walks out of the sliding doors which lead to the balcony. He leans on the railing and allows the smells, sounds, and sights of nature around him to flow through his body. The cool ocean breeze dries the sweat off; the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore put his mind at ease; the moonlight glimmering from the twin moons of Abagawa IV soothe his troubled spirit. He sighs again as if releasing the negative energy within him, if only temporarily. With that, he heads back inside and tries to fall asleep once more.
-
Another morning means another day at the office arranging the remaining pieces of the puzzle together. Photographs, documents, physical pieces of evidence, datachips, and more photographs litter Korbin’s office. Photos pasted on the walls are connected via string, and paper documents are stacked in assorted piles. This all comes together to form an organized chaos. He successfully collected a good amount of information and evidence during the month since his mother’s passing. Now it was just a matter of lining the final pieces up, which is much easier said than done.
A total of five Guristas thugs invaded his mother’s home and nearly beat her to death. Figuring this out was the easy part, for him at least. Sukuuvestaa’s police force, the Peace and Order Unit, had also launched its own investigation on the home invasion that occurred that fateful day on Abagawa IV. Years working for corporate security had fine-tuned Korbin into a ruthlessly efficient detective. He alone rapidly tracked down and dealt with the first four bastards before the P&O investigation even finished identifying the first culprit. Now it was just a matter of finding the fifth Guristas member. Who is the damn fifth? Why is it so difficult for him to track this person down? Korbin scratches his head as he examines the photos on the wall carefully. He bellows a groan of frustration after a while of coming up with no explanation.
“Still obsessing over that, I see. This is really unhealthy for you Kor,” says a voice from behind. Korbin turns around.
“I don’t really feel like talking right now, Kataro. How did you get in anyway?”
“You left your front door open again,” Kataro replies indifferently. He leans on the doorframe leading into Korbin’s office. He is a rather tall and well-dressed man. His chin protrudes strongly, giving away the fact that he is of Civire blood. Kataro strokes his beard, “look I know you’re still upset about the whole thing. I told you my guys are on the case, though. You gotta trust us that we’ll find all the bastards involved. You gotta trust me, Kor.”
Korbin looks at Kataro angrily, and without a word to speak.
“You gotta trust me, Kor,” Kataro repeats. “I know my boys aren’t exactly as fast or efficient as you, but we will find them all in the end. Remember our days back in the local police force? When have I ever let you down, Kor?”
“Never,” Korbin responds reluctantly as he tilts his head down a bit.
“Exactly. So do us both a favor, and relax. At least for a little while. Okay?”
“Alright.”
"Besides, don't you have capsuleer training coming up in a couple months? You don't want to be going through that process in the mental state you're in now," advises Kataro wisely.
"I've postponed my capsuleer training. I am going to get to the bottom of this before I go through that process," Korbin responds flatly.
Kataro shrugs. “Come on, let’s go get some take out. First we need to stop by the station.”
Korbin sighs and hesitantly puts on his jacket. The pair exit Korbin’s apartment overlooking the coast. They arrive at the city’s police station after a short drive.
“It will be real quick, I need to talk to some guys in forensics. Apparently they might have some new leads on another case we’re working on right now. Just relax. Have a seat here or talk to some old friends.” Kataro leaves Korbin alone. Kataro is the local police chief of this sector on the planet, an occupation Korbin once possessed a few years ago. Having been a while since he last stepped inside this building, Korbin decides to visit Kataro’s office – the office he used to once call his own.
The building seems rather quiet today. The hallways are desolate. Korbin walks casually toward the office, secretly hoping he will bump into at least one person; he never does. Korbin enters the office, the key he has still works. It looks just about the same as it did when he ran the place. It is a testament to how both Kataro and Korbin are men who prefer to be out in the field investigating rather than in some office filing away orders and paperwork. He smiles at this fact, and makes his way to the desk. The desk has as much, if not more, clutter as the one resting in his apartment’s office! It seems like no one has been in this office in weeks. He runs a finger on top of the steel frame and rubs the dust around in his fingers. He shrugs and takes a seat on the chair. He pops up his legs on the desk, and accidently shoves some of Kataro’s belongings off the table. Korbin sighs. He gets up to pick up the fallen assortment of documents.
Some of the folders slip partially into a cardboard box on the floor which has a crack in it. Korbin pulls the folders out, and places them back on the desk. Something within him leads him to open up the box. Inside the box he sees a few canisters of black spray paint, but other than that it is largely empty. He shrugs and nearly closes it until he notices a small, square datachip hiding behind one of the canisters. Korbin examines the datachip curiously when he hears someone trying to open the locked office door. Out of panic, he stuffs the datachip inside his right pocket and immediately closes the box. He repositions himself lazily lounging on the desk chair when Kataro finally opens the office door.
“Oh,” Kataro mutters. “I thought I told you to sit back near the main lobby?”
“Well, you know, I couldn’t resist taking a peek at what you’ve done with the place,” Korbin responds as he waves around the office with his arms.
“Is that so?”
Korbin nods. He grabs a stack of papers and blows on them which causes a small cloud of dust to launch into the air. Korbin looks back at Kataro with an arched eyebrow.
“Yeah, yeah. I need to do a little cleaning here. I’m not the only one who needs some cleaning up to do, you know!” Kataro flusters a little bit.
“Did you come in here to grab something,” Korbin asks.
“Nah, I’ll get it later. Come on, let’s eat! I’m starving.”
With that, the two men exit the police station and enjoy the finest Caldari take out the State has to offer.
-
“Right, well, I have to go for now. Remember to leave a reply this time!” She blows a kiss to the camera drone, and cuts off the feed. The hologram projecting the pre-recorded message dissipates, and a new menu materializes. He comes near to selecting the “leave reply” option, but, upon checking the time, opts for the “remind me later” option.
He rises from his seat. Reality holds together this time around. Korbin exits his apartment door, and enters a room of pitch blackness. A hologram lights up from a distance. Its eerie blue glow beckons him forward. He steps toward the hologram. The hologram begins playing. It plays the events that led up to the horrible scene that greeted him when he returned to Abagawa IV after graduating from the Pator Tech School. His mother is doing chores around the house. A vehicle parks outside, and five men step out. Suddenly, they storm the house and begin beating his mother. She fights back with every ounce of strength she has, but to no avail. It becomes too much to watch. He turns away, warm tears streaming down his cheeks. The hologram doesn’t stop playing, however.
“We’re not gonna kill you. You gotta trust me, Miss Lavius…”
That voice. Korbin looks back at the hologram.
“You gotta trust me, Miss Lavius,” repeats the masked Guristas thug. After saying this, he knocks her unconscious with a solid kick to the face. The man grabs a can of spray paint from a cardboard box and begins painting the Guristas emblem on one of the living room walls. The hologram zooms in on this emblem until it becomes the only thing visible. The image grows larger and larger. Korbin hears the screams of his mother yet again.
He jolts up from his sleep, clasping his hands over his sweaty face. He sighs. Korbin just sits there for a few moments in quiet thought. He bolts out of his bed and searches for the datachip he picked up from Kataro’s office a few days ago. Unfortunately, he never got around to returning the datachip. There is a reason for this. His curiosity overwhelms him, and he syncs up the datachip with a holoprojector in his apartment. Korbin easily bypasses the datachip’s security system, and the information he gains access to abhors him.
It can't be true. He doesn't want it to be true. This must be another dream.
The datachip hosts a wealth of information regarding the locations of various Guristas hideouts in the Okomon constellation. It also hosts transaction logs between Guristas and their clients that happened months ago. Drugs, weapons, stolen research data, starship components, just about everything you can think of. The Guristas can be avid businessmen after all. Upon searching through some encrypted files, he pulls up orders delivered to no one other than Kataro himself to kill the aspiring capsuleer, Korbin Sa'kur Lavius, before he finishes his training. The order mentions something about payback for the huge disruption to Guristas operations on Abagawa IV Korbin caused many years ago. Korbin stops examining the contents of the datachip. He gets off his seat and begins pacing. He rubs his hands over his head a number of times, releasing a sigh every now and then.
A volatile mixture of emotions boil inside. Anger, sadness, regret, confusion, betrayal. In the end, these emotions coalesce into one - anger. Anger transforms into vengeance. Korbin springs into action. He quickly dresses himself, and conceals his firearm, an antique blaster pistol, under his jacket. He leaves his apartment, and speeds off to the city police station.
Due to the late hour of the night, the police station appears even more quiet than it did during the daytime when Korbin visited a few days ago. He doesn't bother greeting the few officers in the lobby who recognize him as their previous chief from years before. Korbin enters Kataro's office. No one is present. Some of his belongings are missing, however. The box he discovered the datachip in is no longer there. Korbin curses under his breath and races back down to the main lobby.
"Where is Kataro," he asks one of the officers frantically; he tries to appear well-composed but the adrenaline betrays him.
"Why?"
"Just tell me where he is, Maker's sake," he responds, clearly agitated.
"Well, I hear he left the police station yesterday. I saw him carrying out some stuff from his office. He had a rather distressed look on his face. Not sure where he went, but my guess is he was called up by Peace and Order officials or something." The other officer shrugs and nods in agreement.
Dammit.
Korbin quickly heads back to his apartment and takes another look at the datachip, specifically the locations of the Guristas hideouts. Which one of these would Kataro head to? He thinks long and hard about everything Kataro has ever shared with him. A spark ignites. Hampinen IV. He remembers Kataro would always take vacations to this temperate planet back when the two were lowly ranking officers for Peace and Order Unit. Korbin searches through the list of hideouts. The search turns up positive for one hideout in a remote region of the planet near a mountain range.
He uploads the coordinates and layouts of this facility on another datachip of his. There is planning to be done. Kataro could be anywhere right now. This act will be a leap of faith. A gust of cold air pushes open one of the apartment windowpanes. It wraps around Korbin, and reassures him. This is the place.
-
"Are you sure you want to do this alone?"
"Yes, Valerian. I'm not waiting anymore. Thank you for helping me with this," Korbin says with deep sincerity.
"Alright. Don't get my ship or my crew killed, you hear? And also take care of that dropsuit. Those things aren't exactly cheap you know," replies Valerian. Valerian, a close childhood friend of Korbin and the reason Korbin ever discovered he was compatible with capsule technology, felt highly uneasy about Korbin wanting to assault a Guristas complex by himself. He was aware of Korbin's combat and strategic prowess, but that did not ease his worries. The fact that Korbin contacted him in the middle of the night asking for military equipment and a starship by the time the sun rose certainly only amplified his concern.
"I can send in some mercen-"
"I told you I am not waiting. This ends now."
"Okay, fine. Just be careful Kor," Valerian mutters.
"It is the Guristas you should be worrying about," replies Korbin coldly. With that final message, Korbin ends the private transmission. He finishes adjusting the armor plates of the dropsuit he is wearing. He stands and thanks the Maker he decided not to be a ground soldier for the Caldari State. Korbin makes his way to the flight deck.
"You know there is plenty of room in there for a detachment of soldiers, captain." A petite Deteis woman whose poise and tone exude confidence and authority looks at Korbin directly. She holds in one arm a clipboard.
"Thank you lieutenant, but I have the situation under control. Am I ready to depart?" Korbin slightly appears anxious.
"Yes, captain."
"Very well. Maintain orbit, I don't expect this to take very long." Korbin boards the planetary shuttle and sets course for the Guristas complex on Hampinen IV. The small shuttle obeys the commands, and exits the flight bay of the cruiser. There is no turning back. It only takes a couple minutes for the shuttle to bypass the planet's atmosphere. The shuttle lands in a forested area a good distance from the facility. Korbin hops on his hoverbike, and begins the roughly one hour trip to the Guristas complex. This hour feels like an eternity to him.
When at last he arrives at the complex, the assault begins. The cruiser in orbit above relays commands to the shuttle which had been faithfully trailing behind Korbin's hoverbike. The shuttle peppers the facility with heavy cannon fire, with an added dosage of missile barrages. Once the facility has been properly ravaged by the shuttle, the vehicle flies back to the forested area for Korbin's arrival. Korbin pushes forward. He encounters light resistance which he dispatches easily with his hoverbike's mounted arsenal of burst cannons.
He enters the complex through a ventilation shaft from the outside. He crawls through the vents until he approaches what the facility floor plans suggest is the office of the Guristas commander. The vent system becomes too narrow to allow him to enter the room. He scans the area outside the office for hostiles. Four hostiles are showing up as guarding the entrance. He crawls to a vent that leads to another corridor adjacent to the office entrance, and pops out cautiously. Korbin loads his rifle and approaches the corner which opens to the office entrance. He takes a deep breath, and tosses a flash grenade down the corridor.
He swings around the corner into action following the disorienting flash burst. Korbin pulls the trigger. A stream of bullets penetrate the torso one Guristas guard, killing him swiftly. He tilts his rifle a bit, and pulls the trigger again. Another stream of bullets shatter straight through the skull of a second guard. By now the remaining two soldiers have more or less regained full visual awareness; they return fire. Korbin rolls across the floor to dodge the incoming fire and reposition himself for a better shot. Yet another stream of rounds pours out of his rifle, and breaches the armor of one of the remaining Guristas. He falls flat on his face. The final guard retreats behind a nearby corridor. Korbin pursues ruthlessly. As he reaches the corner the thug ran down, the Guristas guard ambushes Korbin with knife in hand and arm outstretched. Korbin instinctively shields himself with his rifle; he blocks the incoming knife attack in such a fashion so as to disarm the knife from the guard by twisting the rifle, but he also disarms himself in the process. A fist fight ensues. The bulky guard lands a solid right hook on Korbin's face, causing him to step back. Korbin returns with an uppercut. He feints, and the Guristas thug falls for the bait. Korbin uses the opportunity to deliver a knockout blow to the face. He succeeds in knocking the hulking guard unconscious. Korbin takes out his blaster pistol and ends the bastard's misery.
Korbin takes a moment to regain his composure. He places an explosive charge on the metal office doors. An explosion rips a gaping hole through the sturdy metal frame. He storms in with blaster pistol ready to fire. The scene greets Korbin with surprise.
Kataro is sitting with arms outstretched on a wooden chair in the middle of the office. He is not armed. Before he can utter a word, Korbin opens fire with a single round from his blaster. The distance between the two saves Kataro from having a chunk of his torso blown off, but the shot still inflicts a serious wound on Kataro. He shrieks in pain.
"Y-you know...I never planned on killing you, Kor." Kataro grasps the wound with one hand and mutters some curse words under his breath. "I could never...b-bring myself to do it."
"That doesn't mean I'll show you the same mercy, you pathetic son of a bitch." Korbin handcuffs Kataro to the chair, and takes a few steps back. He puts away his pistol.
"I just want to know why...why did you do it? How long were you even part of the Guristas?"
Kataro remains silent, his head tilts to the floor.
"You know I really trusted you. I considered you to be one of my closest friends. You betrayed me," Korbin says solemnly. "You betrayed my mother." His eyes pierce the broken man handcuffed to the chair. "ANSWER ME!"
“You have your ideals. I-I have mine,” Kataro shrugs slightly. “You’ve made your choices, and...and I’ve made mine.” He refuses to gaze directly into Korbin’s eyes, and spits out some blood which hemorrhages from his internal injuries.
A few moments of silence transition between them. It feels like an eternity.
“I r-reckon the local authorities ought to...be showing up soon to lock me away. You best get going now, Kor-Korbin.” Kataro still avoids direct eye contact.
Korbin remains standing silently. His gaze penetrates the dishonored and pathetic man who sits handcuffed on the chair. These moments, too, feel like an eternity.
“What are you waiting for?!” Kataro finally engages in direct eye contact with Korbin. He pants more heavily now as sweat steadily smears with the blood spattered on his face.
Korbin still remains silent. He gives no sense of satisfaction to Kataro by replying, verbally or through gestures; there are no emotions to interpret across his blank face. The dim lighting of the office conceals Korbin’s deep-set eyes. His hazel eyes which used to glimmer with hope and amiability now blend in with the utter darkness which cloaks them.
Korbin finally makes a move. He moves past Kataro, and examines the man’s desk. He slides his hand on the desk as he moves slowly around it, and now examines the wall behind it. Hanging on the wall is a beautifully crafted steel blade. Intricate patterns are engraved along one of the blade’s edges, and the hilt is a simple repeating pattern of black and white. Beneath this blade is a plaque. On a platinum metal plate resting on the cherrywood plaque are a set of curved crescents arranged in such a fashion so as to form the vague shape of a falcon with outspread wings. The only words engraved on this plaque are “Cold Wind’s Blade.” Korbin stares at this plaque for a long time. The image of Cold Wind’s Blade sears into his memory.
He takes the blade off the rack that holds it. He studies it intensely for a few moments. A slight gust of cold air brushes up against Korbin from seemingly out of nowhere. He is not startled by it. With blade in hand, Korbin approaches Kataro, who remains panting and sweating with nervous energy, from behind. Without a word, Korbin thrusts the blade deep into Kataro’s torso – straight through the heart. Kataro responds only with some coughing and a jolt from the pain. He tilts his head down and glares at the blade smeared in blood as he gurgles and coughs out more of his own blood. Kataro falls silent and limp in his seat.
Korbin leaves the blade wedged in Kataro’s torso. He sighs deeply with exhaustion. It is time to leave this place. Korbin begins his walk out of the ravaged complex. Once outside, he strenuously lifts himself onto his trusty old hoverbike. The hoverbike’s thrusters breathe to life at the command of its faithful pilot. Before speeding off, Korbin punches in a few commands on a device. He immediately begins traveling to the location of his parked shuttle, and in his wake the complex ignites into an immense fireball. There will be no remains left once the fires have burned out. There is no looking back now, only forward.
-
Clack, clack, clack.
The sounds of his metal dropsuit and the metal floor clash together.
Clack, clack, clack.
The weight of the suit bears down on him. He breathes heavily, but calmly with exhaustion.
Clack, clack, clack.
He looks down at the necklace entangled in his hands – that beautiful teardrop-shape jade amulet which glimmers under the dim lighting of the corridor. It strengthens his resolve. He pushes forward.
Clack, clack, clack.
Whoosh.
The doors of the cockpit open smoothly, welcoming their pilot home. He collapses on the pilot’s seat, and silences the constant pinging of the incoming hails. The concern of his crew becomes quite obvious, but they need not wait long to see him again. He summons the strength to punch in a few commands, and the small shuttle obeys. The engines awaken as thrusters lift the shuttle off the ground while automatic seatbelts fasten the pilot in.
He glances one last time at the small jade pendant still in his hand. Warm streams clean the blood and dirt off his dark cheeks. He closes his eyes, and is transported to another place, another time.
-
The memories come surging back in. I can hear now the beating hearts of lost friends and loved ones. They remind me to not forget them. I will not forget them. I can see my mother, and my father. I meet them under the old cherry blossom tree out on the cliff overlooking the coast. I feel Cold Wind gently wrap around us, pushing us closer together. He carries with him fresh petals from the cherry blossom tree as he dances around us. I’m entranced by the beauty I see, and the warmth I feel. Beautiful cherry blossoms, I think to myself as I embrace my family. Beautiful cherry blossoms.