Pickpocket Rose Blake cursed as she hurried through the streets of Meta Major, thankful the Federation troopers had given up on her a while back, but she cursed the fact she'd been spotted stealing from some of the citizens; on the outlying frontier worlds, the Federation oppressed both humans and aliens using the usual drugs, but the drug intake was thankfully minimal, and some people here were more prone to thinking for themselves.
Like her infamous cousin, Roj, who was now a fugitive from the Federation and was now rebelling as he travelled the galaxy in a stolen spaceship, Rose hated the Federation; the Blakes' had followed the example of so many other protestors, knowing the risks only too well, but Roj had taken the protests much further.
Her parents had died a while back and she had smuggled herself out of the Core of Federation territory, and she'd escaped with her life, and with her little sister, Emma.
But the cost was too high.
She had been 11 years old at the time, and Emma had been 5. But she was smart enough to know staying on Earth and becoming one of those brainwashed zombies as a result of the never-ending intake of drugs used to keep everyone docile and compliant with the rules of the Federation.
Since then, the girls were fugitives.
Forced to move from planet to planet, unable to settle down, unable to get work, and both unwilling to expose themselves as the Federation authorities on the planets they travelled to would have them on file and would simply kill them to save them the trouble of sending them both home on the next transport back to Earth, the sisters were forced to live on the streets.
Rose and Emma both forsook the chance of education; the Federation spoonfed propaganda at a young age.
The only alternative was to commit crimes. And Rose was good at it.
Once she was out of sight, Rose slowed down and made herself appear as blank-faced as everyone else.
Unlike many of the other colonies in the galaxy which were completely under the thumb of the Federation, Meta Major was a world where nearly everyone was aware of the many evils of the Federation and their habit of drugging everyone so they pretended to go along with it, which made it easy for them to blend in and merge with the crowds.
It was easy for her, a thief to do the same.
Rose had been forced to go into hiding. She had become a thief, a criminal to survive. She also stole data books and broke into libraries - not an easy task, and she tried to avoid them as much as possible; information was censured after all.
Thankfully she had found an old, tattered book from before the foundation of the Federation and its cruelties.
Xxxxx
Rose slipped into the old apartment block - the city was vast, and dozens of old apartments were being closed, although the Federation never gave out its reasons, and being partially drugged meant that nobody questioned it.
"Did you get any credits, Rose?"
Rose stiffened and turned. "Yes, sis," she said, eyeing her sister sadly. "How are you doing today?"
"I'm okay," Emma Blake tried to smile but she coughed and wheezed once the fit was over.
Rose quickly rushed over to her, grabbed a canteen on the makeshift table and she handed it to her sister. Emma tried to be brave and shove the water away, but Rose was insistent.
"Take it, sis," Rose whispered and she pushed the canteen top down her sister's throat. Rose bit her lip as she watched her sister gurgling as the water went down her throat.
When their parents had been killed by the Federation for their speaking out, they weren't executed. They had been forced to watch as their precious daughters were both tortured by the overzealous and sadistic guards; Emma, as the youngest and most vulnerable, was the prime target and she was tortured with a lethal DNA virus that caused her unimaginable pain. Rose had managed, just, to get out, find out what had happened to her sister and get the cure after forcing one of the doctors (if they could be called that; from what Rose had learnt from history, doctors were supposed to uphold some kind of oath that prevented them from causing any undue harm, but such idealistic things no longer existed in this dark, twisted world where any attempt at any kind of public speech was not only met with lethal force but was brutally suppressed over the whole populace) to get it, but the damage was done.
Rose had been infected by the virus too long, permanent damage had been done to her body; her lungs had been burnt, and her nerves had been affected, so she could barely walk; the once exuberant girl who wore a bright smile was now a partially paralysed young woman, who was perpetually ill.
As the one responsible
Most of the credits Rose stole, which didn't go into things like food and water and clothes and batteries for the heating units they had went into the procurement of drugs needed to keep Emma alive, and while they lessened the effect of the virus, they wore off after a while and Emma was left weaker than ever.
More than once Rose had caught her sister looking at the drugs with an expression she had never liked, and what made it worse was Rose had a good idea of what she wanted to do. But those moments were fortunately fleeting, Rose hoped.
Emma finally had enough water, and she shoved the canteen away and choked violently, but at least it was not mixed with blood, not this time.
Rose wrapped her arms around her sister, who hugged her back.
"I'm sorry, Rosie," Emma whispered.
"What do you mean?" Rose had a good idea of where this was going.
"For being a burden. For slowing you down," Emma began sobbing.
Rose hugged her sister gently, not too tight, she was too fragile. "You aren't," she whispered. "I do all of this, for you, sis."
"I wish things were different, I wish they were alive."
"So do I," Rose felt her eyes water as she thought about the shameless way her parents were killed.
Emma was quiet for a moment. "I hate them, Rose."
"I know," Rose knew who she was talking about.
The Federation.
But that was understandable.
"Promise me you'll do something about the Federation," Emma's voice sounded like her throat had been filled with loose gravel.
"Emma-," Rose was starting to get worried, something was not right here.
"Promise me!"
Rose sighed. "I promise," she said, and she meant it. She always got a kick stealing from loyal officials and even guards, from time to time. But it got boring. More than once she wished she could drop an antimatter warhead on the Federation.
Emma snuggled into her arms.
Xxxxx
A scream woke Rose up; disorientated, it took her a moment to realise what was happening and where she was, and she snapped awake, her panic surging to new heights when she saw the open window, the breeze and the cold, polluted, stinking air mocking her.
"EMMA!" Rose rushed to the window, but it was too late. Rose looked down and saw Emma's dead body on the ground. "NO! NO!" She screamed, losing herself to the heartbreak she was feeling as she saw the death of the last member of her family.
At that point, Rose did not give a damn about the Federation troopers. She didn't care about the prospects of being caught, or worse killed; right now she welcomed it.
But then she spotted something taped to the window she hadn't seen because she'd thrown herself at the window when she heard the scream and saw it wide open.
Rose tore it off, and she opened it. It was a letter addressed to her, from Emma. She smiled sadly at the sight of the familiar handwriting, and she began to read.
"'Dear sis, I am a burden to you. I know I am. I have been ever since the Federation monsters infected me with that virus. I am glad you were there for me, I'm glad you took me away from Earth when Mum and Dad were murdered. But I was holding you back; I was making you steal when we should have both been fighting the Federation. Now is your chance. I was dying, Rose, I was holding you back; you can deny it all you like, however, you wish, but the truth is I was dying and every day was agony. And it was even worse for you since you had to see it. Don't forget me, Rose. Remember me as I was, but fight the Federation. It's what you're good at. Find Roj, work with him, fight with him. Get rid of all of them, Rose. Love, Emma."'
Rose closed her eyes and sobbed. Rose was like that for a long time, but as she regained control she reread the letter, and she cursed her sister for making herself a martyr like this, but she had to admit, deep down, her sister had a few points.
They had both known Emma was dying.
They had both known they couldn't have gone on the way they had and that one day Emma would have died. One day. The virus had crippled her severely.
And, deep down, Rose had wanted to go on the offensive; she had wanted to kill troopers and officials and bomb their shipyards, and launch platforms but the potential and likely dangers to herself and Emma had been too great, so she had not bothered. But now she could.
"I'll make them pay, sis," Rose said before she packed everything up. It wouldn't take long for the Federation troopers to find Emma's body and she didn't want to be there when they did that; she already had a fake I.D. in place and she could move off the world and join the resistance.
But as she later passed Emma's body, broken and frail, Rose had to look away, or else she would break down crying.
A/N - I wanted to explore another member of the Blake family for this one, and one of tragedy.
