To the Galaxy at Large,
I had three children once.
My eldest daughter was a researcher and on a surface installation outside of one of the larger caves in the southern hemisphere of Agerre. She was had a brilliant mind and was very gifted, finishing her advanced studies on Baryos two years early. She returned to our homeworld to study the plant and animal life with some new theories about making life-saving medicines. She was killed in an orbital bombardment when Admiral Therra returned.
My youngest daughter was an adventurer at heart and from an early age and would stop anyone she could find to get a grand story out of them. She was so excited about going on a sunwalk that anytime she went missing, we immediately looked toward the routes that lead to the surface. When she was old enough she left Agerre to seek adventure elsewhere.
Becoming a navigator gave her all the thrill she needed as she charted courses for an advanced research ship. Of course being away for so long and so far from home, word of Therra’s blockade by the pirates of Ya-Rett’s Irregulars hadn’t reached her. The ship was destroyed while attempting to enter the atmosphere.
The authorities provided me transcripts. The ship repeatedly said it was unarmed, that it was a civilian vessel. But the Irregulars … they could only be heard laughing and taunting.
The last I heard from my middle child was more than 15 years ago. They had settled off world and realized after the attack that going home wasn’t an option. They said they were alive and well and had found a partner. They were looking to adopt a child. By the time I received this message, two years had passed since it was sent.
And I only got it by luck. A merchant vessel from Dor Lin Sono was able to smuggle a data packet with many messages on it across the blockade. It’s captain had likely bribed the pirates for safe passage. He was a kind person and didn’t charge us too much money to receive our personal messages (others try to ransom the data for small fortunes).
I cannot see or speak to any of my three children. Two I know are dead and a third … I hope is still alive.
If anyone out there has a heart for an old man, please do what you can to end the blockade. Tell Therra to have his pirates go home. He destroyed enough lives in the Homeworld war. Or does he have so much blood on his hands that a little more goes unnoticed to him?
– A grieving father
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