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The Old Gods

Chapter 3

It had been some time, not as long as others, but still some time since Aetin had last woken to full conciousness. Even so, it took days for him to stir fully from his timeless state that couldn't be called slumber. No, he was awake, but not aware. His body, his mind even, they worked relentlessly to no end, causing havoc where it can happen, but the little part that was human, the soul, would be pushed down. But, a faint whisper in the wind, far away, barely audible, woke him up.

It was an odd feeling, the feeling the whisper that did not come from lips, but from a Fel, it was a feeling of deja vu. He had felt it before, a very long time ago when he may have been more human. It was hard to recall. Memories were not easy to muster up, but Aetin felt the need to.

He thought hard about the feeling he had, ignoring all that went on around him. He did not care that he was a festering pool of corruption, barely the shape of a man anymore. Growths came from his body as fruit would from a tree. They grew, fell off and grew again. Lumps of ooze that bubbles and slithered away from his sled stylized throne made from the wreckage of the shuttle he had once flown to try and escape in. He had crashed and was damned to the world. Once he had been mad, but now he was unsure of what he really wanted anymore. There was a name always on the tip of his tongue, one that made him feel more than ever before, but he couldn't remember and so he went back to the whisper that had stirred him.

"What are you?" He hissed, his lips splitting with the words as he spoke to no one. "Where are you?" He reached out into the air as if he could pluck the whisperer from thin air and in a way, he could.

He felt a connection in his mind, not unlike the one had had with his minion. They were like limbs to him, obeying his will instantly. This feeling had that potential, but was not quite there. More like a muscle that had not been worked in some time.

Aetin focused on it more and he felt the connection strengthen. This one was easier to open up than the last on he had made with a new being.

The sled stylized Symphony of Blades had been an easy catch. Hate filled his heart and a life of magic had left his mind ripe for the plucking. Aetin, the Fel part, had sent whispers to him and sent ideas. Now there was chaos, just enough to sate the hunger, but the Fel in Aetin was greedy, there was always room for more and this new whisper had the possibility to give.

There it was, the first touch of minds. This one was young and unique. It was human.

Aetin remembered.

He remembered this feeling now. The individual he was connecting to was different, but the feeling was the same. He could recall exactly what happened.

--

It had been near the end of Cossus' time on his precious world. War consumes the land as the creations picked sides and killed each other in the name of whatever 'god' they worshiped. Some sides with Cossus and were trying to stabilize the situation. Others were tricked by Aetin and were attempting to drive away their gods who had taken advantage of them. Some sides with gods who were on their own side. One such individual was Romus, also known by his peers as Dr. Ryan Bernarski, the lead expeditionary microbiologist. He dreamed of building his own 'Roman Empire.'

Romus was one of the strongest of the splinter groups. He had done much of his work on a smaller continent, away from much of the main work that was being done. That allowed him a strong influence on the entire continent who he rallied to his cause of empire building. He was, by all means, benevolent to his people. He shared what he could to make them the most technologically advanced out of all of the planet's inhabitants.

With that advantage, the continent was turned into a fortress. No one was allowed in and the entirety of the continent went into isolation to wait out the war.

Aetin noticed them quickly.

Fel came quickly to Romus' Empire due to its heavy reliance on it defense based magic. It affected the most powerful mages and wizards first and spread from there.

With his empire crumbling so quickly from the inside like a bad rot, Romus took it upon himself to end Aetin. He rallied his armies and laid siege to Aetin at the old primary research station on the main continent.

There a massive battle was fought and Romus confronted Aetin.

"I heard the stories," Romus said as he entered what amounted to the throne chambers for Aetin. He wore steel armor with titanium plates and carried a sword that vibrated at an incredible frequency to literally shake the atomic bonds apart.

Aetin eyed his old colleague. He recognized him, but only barely.

"You know nothing of the truth," Aetin replied. His voice was human which was disturbing coming from a very nonhuman form. "All are just rumor."

"It doesn't matter," Romus said with a dismissing swing of his sword. "You've killed millions of my people. You will die for that."

Without another word, he charged at Aetin and all went black.

Aetin could only rarely remember periods of high excitement. He just knew that something deep inside of him awoke and took all command and that when he woke, he was missing an arm and part of his face. Below him was Romus, beaten, bloody, defeated, but not dead.

"Finish it," Romus said and coughed up blood. "Take the last thing I have. That's what you're good for, taking. You've even taken everything from yourself already. What would Julia think of you now."

"Julia," Aetin said the name. It felt comfortable on his tongue, as if he had said the word a million times in his life and the muscle knew exactly how to pronounce it correctly. He then cocked his head too far to the side. "Who is Julia?"

Romus stared back at Aetin and smirked. "You have lost everything."

"Yet, you can still give," Aetin said. His mouth barely moved due to the cut flesh across his face from Romus' sword and the words came out wet and loose. "Cossus plans to escape and he may succeed. He will take with him, those that he can. You will be one of them." Aetin walked over to Romus and peered down at him.

"What are you doing?" Romus shrieked as Aetin bent over and reached for him. Romus then reached into his boot and pulled out a simple steel dagger and thrust it into Aetin's exposed chest, but the corrupted man didn't even flinch. "Get away!"

Aetin only had to lay a single finger of Romus head. He saw everything the man had seen and could hear all of his terrified thoughts. He didn't care about those. Instead he planted a single idea, a bit like a computer virus. He planted it deep into Romus' mind and then he wiped the man's memory.

Romus laid limp. His eyes were open, but were looking at nothing, just straight ahead.

"No go, my child. Cossus awaits."

Romus was still hurt, but he still managed to get up and walk out of the chamber.

--

It was all Aetin could remember at the moment, but he knew that Romus had escaped to some extent, but what of Cossus. He wanted to know about Cossus.

Did the old fool escape as well? Where was he and could he use this new individual to find out?

Cossus tried to reach out a controlling grip, but across the great distance, it wasn't enough. However, he could influence. He could feel the seething rage from where he was and that was enough to send out his whispers.

The whispers reached Rem.

"Why can't they just mind their own goddamn business!" He flung up his arms and then brought them back down to the table, scattering pencils and papers. "I just want to strangle all of them."

"You need to calm down," Abby's said across the connection. She wished she could be there to comfort him like she had done with their father. The men of the family had always been prone to anger, but quick to calm as well if there was someone familiar around. However, Rem was alone now and there was only the email to fuel his rage. She should have brought it to him personally instead.

"I've tried calm already," Rem was getting red. A vein bulged from his forehead. "I tried to be reasonable and all they do is stab me in the back." He scratched his ear as if swatting away a mosquito. He repeated the gesture several more times.

"Maybe I should come over," Abby suggested. "I might be able to talk to them."

"And put yourself on the radar?" Rem shook his head. "If they can do this to me. They can do it to you." He paused for a few moments and slammed his hands onto his desk again. "Fuck!"

Abby could only watched as her brother spiraled more and more out of control. What would he do next. He lost his company in moments. He didn't care about money or possessions. It had always been his passion to explore. The company had always just been an means to an end. Now he lost even that. He had nothing worth losing anymore.

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" Rem grabbed two handfuls of his hair. "Everything is ruined. On the edge of a knife." He swept his arm across the desk, sending whatever hadn't already been knocked over, clattering across the ground. "They even took the Aurora." He said it with genuine sadness. It had been his baby. He had overseen her construction and had been there very step of the way. This was to be her maiden voyage outside of a test flight.

"I'm sure this thing will blow over," Abby said with some reassurance. "This kind of thing always blows over once the initial shock dies down. You still have a large amount of shares and I know there are plenty who will support you."

Rem looked up at the floating image of his sister. Lines of concern scarred her face. "That will take years. Garret will fight me in the courts and with the company at his back now, he'd outlast me there." He clenched and uncle chef his fists. There was nothing left to throw or knock over.

"You're a patient man," Abby said. "One of the most patient I know. If it comes to the courts, I can easily keep you afloat. That's what family is for."

"Years!" Rem stood up fast enough to knock over his chair. "I can't wait years any more. And your only adopted." He cut the connection on Abby and immediately felt regret. Why did he say that? He had never lashed out at his sister like that before. He scratched his ear, trying to wave away something that wasn't there.

It didn't matter. In times like these, feelings got hurt. What did matter was stopping Garret. The announcement had only just been made and since there wasn't security trying to bash down his door to get him to drag him off to an institution or something, it hadn't taken effect quite yet. He had time to act.

Rem quickly brought up a new connection to Teth.

"What's up?" Teth said. He had obviously not heard the news yet. That was good. There was hope.

"How's the ship?" Rem asked, putting on his best smile and moving a piece of unkempt hair out of his eyes.

Teth saw that something was wrong, but dismissed it as business related. "She's doing good. Pretty much all of the supplies are on board and most of the crew are just on standby. I'd say that she'd be ready to go in a month."

"How about now?" Rem quickly asked. His fingers were tapping on his desk out of sight.

"Now?" The old Ranger scratched at his beard that he had grown out. He wasn't entirely opposed. His place was in space and as much as he enjoyed living in style on Rem's dime, he wanted to get back into space. "Technically we could."

"Good enough for me," Rem said. "Get her prepped. I'll be there by the end of the day."

"Really?" Teth was surprised. He didn't actually think that Rem was being serious. "I mean, yeah. I'll get it all set up. We'll be ready to go when you get here."

Rem closed the connection and stood in silence for a moment. He was doing this. He was going to steal his ship back. Steal his mission back. Fuck em all. Fuck Garret especially.

"In fact," Rem said and opened the top drawer of his desk. There inside was something he had only touched once and that was to put it into the desk. He grabbed the handgun.

Garret was at home, celebrating. He had done it. He had beaten Rem and his damn family. Now he had both his company and Rem corp. There was nothing but good times ahead.

The party guests had all returned home already, leaving Garret to continue drinking by himself. He wanted a bit of alone time anyways. There was a time to celebrate with acquaintances and there was a time to celebrate alone.

The gun was strong, but lacked flavor. He didn't even know why he had grabbed it and decided to go for a bottle of vintage Terran bourbon he knew he had stowed away. It was over two hundred years old, but kept in absolute pristine environmental conditions to ensure that it didn't go bad. That was the idea and theoretically it would work. Time to test it in practice.

It was a slow and careful walk from the living room to the stairs that led to the cellar. Garret held onto the rail and lowered himself down each step one by one until he was at the bottom.

There was a fair amount of alcohol, enough to entertain a large number of guests all through the night and into the next day.

Garret walked past rows of bottles until he came up to a safe at the back where he kept the especially good and expensive bottles of alcohol.

It was a biometric safe, so no fiddling with a knob. He pressed the palm of his hand against the case and there was a faint click as the locks disengaged.

With a hiss of depressurization, the safe opened.

Garret reached inside and pulled out the bottle he was looking for. It was in a crystal bottle and the top was encased in old red wax to seal it.

Garret brought the bottle up against the light above and gazed at the amber liquid. He then dropped it.

The bottle shattered, spraying its contents all over Garret's legs.

He didn't drop it because he was drunk. He dropped it because he felt something. His brain was still trying to figure out what it was. Pain? An intense pressure in his chest? It couldn't figure it out.

Garret dropped much like the bottle of bourbon. He was dead when he hit the ground, still pondering what had just happened, unaware that he had been shot through the heart from behind.

Rem lowered the weapon. His hands were steady and his breathing was calm. He felt nothing about what he had just done. He had simply done it as if a guiding hand had helped him along.

Now it was done.

Rem walked over to the body. He half expected Garret to get back up and wipe himself off. The act had just been so clean and quick. Murder was just that easy and Rem felt okay with that. He didn't enjoy it. It had just been simply necessary.

Now he had to go. He had done nothing to mask that he had been here. It would take a blind man to not notice what happened here. They would be after him by tomorrow once Garret failed to show up to wherever he went in the mornings.

Rem planned to be long gone by then.

Teth did have the ship ready by the time Rem arrived. He along with everyone else was still unaware of what had happened.

"She's all set," Teth said to Rem when the man got out of his ship. "Being short notice, some of the crew is still enroute, but we have enough as is."

"We'll leave now," Rem said sternly and kept walking at a brisk pace. Teth had to pick up his own pace to keep up. "We can make do with what we have."

"We're missing the head engineer," Teth said as they entered the main elevator that would take them to the Aurora. "He knows a lot about the ship."

"Should have been here." Rem looked down at his chrono. It had been late enough now for the murder to have been discovered. He had made no attempt to hide his travels either. Authorities would be here soon.

"Hold on," Teth took a step in front of Rem and thought that he was about to get stabbed with the glare he got. "What's the rush?"

"I'll explain it once we're off the ground," Rem brushed past Teth once the elevator doors opened. "You coming?"

Teth sighed and then followed.

The ship was ready and all the available personnel were on standby in the hangar.

Teth had no choice. He hadn't exactly had the blessing of the Rangers to accept this mission. He wasn't a freelancer with an open contract, he was an agent for a company who decided who could take his contract. Teth was pretty sure that he was going to be sacked.

There was no brief. Rem explained that they were leaving now and not waiting for the rest. There were some disagreements about leaving some of the crew behind, but no one formally objected. Something about Rem put away the idea of disagreeing with him. He was volatile.

The ship turned on and all the checks came back green.

Teth took his place in the bridge along with the rest of the bridge crew which included Rem and a navigator who also acted as copilot. Everyone else was getting to their respective stations and preparing for takeoff.

"Opening hangar bay doors," Teth said and signaled to the ground crew that he was ready.

The hangar may have been at the bottom of a deep elevator, but the hangar bay doors opened out to the bottom of a massive canyon. It was this way to hide Rem's projects from prying eyes and for the moment, there was no one outiside.

"Extending platform."

The platform under the ship moved, carrying everyone out of the hangar and into the canyon where there was a natural runway that went for miles in either direction.

Rem grabbed his speaker. "Engineering, are we set for takeoff and jump?"

"Good to go, sir," the reply came.

"Mr. Teth, when you're ready."

Teth had been dreaming of this moment. He laid his hands on the controls of the ship. He could already feel the hum of the ship's cores vibrating through the hull. He could sense the slightest adjustments that the ship made, even from him just laying a pinky on the main controls. This was far better than anything he had ever flown.

Without having to jerk the controls like on an older starship, the Aurora lifted off the ground without a single complaint. Her lower thrusts sent out a steady stream of smooth hot jet that lifted up the ship before the main thrusts on the rear eased her forward.

The ship cut through the air easily, leaving contrail in her wake.

Teth loved every moment of it already. He was in love with this ship. It was exactly what the old man needed in his life, a young and frisky ship at his finger tips.

"Mr. Rem! Sir!" The navigator called out from his station. He didn't have enough time to call out what the issue was before the ship's speakers came to life.

"Rem, this is the police. You are wanted for the murder of Garret Hemsworth. We have the system blockaded, do not attempt to flee."

Sure enough, the ship's scanners, as soon as they were free of the canyon's walls, picked up thousands of targets scattered in orbit. They were surrounded.