The Müller family sat together hushed and frightened at the dinner table engrossed in the images from the full wall-sized display they watched together. The mother, father and young children rarely met at the table at the same time; everyone in the household being so busy and involved in their daily lives and activities. But tonight was a time for them to hold close as a unified, loving unit. This night could be their last.
The news reported that the Skyean war fleet had arrived at the orbital city of Grin a full four days before the surprise attack on the city’s upper and lower space docks. The fleet’s van had easily overwhelmed the small Agency defence force leaving the city dazed, confused and helpless, unable to take action against the surprise aggressors.
With the hope of escape lost, non-emergency workers were under twenty-four hour curfew. The population sat worried in their apartments with nothing to do other than watch the media coverage as events unfolded.
The Müller’s apartment shook as they heard deep booming explosions in the distance. The noise repeated louder from the wall screen as they watched the live coverage. A reporter was thrown forward and out of view and the news cut to the official Agency anchor, Phong Litely. “We seem to have a problem with our coverage from the Hermes platform. So will now switch to an outer station view of the Skyean’s main fleet. In a few minutes we'll chat with Administrator Toni.”
The screen went dark, and a line of small lights became visible. As the camera zoomed in the lights slowly took form becoming the recognisable shapes of Skyean battleships: a line of dark warships of various shapes and sizes pointing forward like a spear outlined by the strong white light of the system’s bright but distant sun. The anchor continued, her voice was strong and confident, “So as you can see from this outer station footage, the aggressor fleet is sizable. We count over one hundred vessels in this formation including the infamous behemoth class vessels Mountain and Small Moon, and that's not counting the vanguard battleships currently surrounding the city.
"Now, with me off screen, is Administrator Toni.
"So tell me Administrator, do we have any further information on the Skyean objective? Can you explain what demands, if any, have been made on the city?”
The tired voice of the normally upbeat Administrator seemed to say it all, “No Phong, I’m afraid we are still unable to report on the motivation of the attacking force. There has been no attempt to communicate with the city and all of our efforts to engage have been rejected by the Skyeans outright.”
“Turn the bloody thing off.” The father grunted as he turned to the tabletop and flicked on a com console on the glass-like surface.
The Mother reasoned, “We need to watch the media in case we receive word of rescue. The Agency will need to respond soon.”
“Huh! Don’t kid yourself. It'll be weeks before Agency reinforcements will be able to reach us -- you don't have to be a bloody scientist to do the math. Besides, have you seen the size of that armada! It would take all the of the Agency's ships to take on a fleet that size. Face it, we’re dead.”
“SHUT YOUR FACE!” The mother shouted furious, standing up in her place as the children whimpered. “Talk like that will scare the children! They're frightened enough already without your words of doom and gloom!”
“Don’t be an idiot.” the father snapped back, “The kids should be freakin' scared and nothing I’m going to say is going to make any difference at all. Isn’t that right Jess?” He asked his sobbing daughter.
The mother answered for her daughter, “You are the only idiot here." Looking for new argument, she pointed violently at the tabletop console, "What are you doing there?”
“I’m transferring all of our assets to Tom’s account at Earth Dock. No need for good pax to go to waste when we’re all blown to space junk.”
The daughters’ tears multiplied as her little brother stood on his seat and screamed above his parent’s bickering and background ad nauseam of the media coverage, “WHY DO THERE HAVE TO BE BAD PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD!!?”
A question that would never be answered -- the next image from the wall was the vacuum of space.