He watches the colossal husks of the ancient starships spin in space. Backed by stars, that wink out as dark extremities obscure them, this graveyard is the site of the largest void battle in mankind's history. Twenty eight ships tore each other apart, with only two surviving to lip away. Over one-million and three hundred thousand lives lost. It lasted eight minutes and six seconds.
A hundred years later and no one has been along to clean up the mess. Scavengers picked clean all the valuable parts and cargo within the first few years after the battle. Since then, these immense bodies of compound metals have been drifting in the slow dance of one-another’s gravity. Aimless - much like the war that brought them here.
When he’s nearby, he brings his ship here to observe the wreckage. A reminder of how much can be lost in such a small breadth of time. Nothing is immune to stupidity. Not the gossamer wings of a butterfly, not the armoured core of the technological apex. Don’t be stupid - that’s the lesson - and don’t engage in open void battle.
Paddy Dobson
31st August 2022