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The Old Gods

Chapter 4

The Aurora came out of its jum in a sudden flash of light. The ship sputtered and belched plumes of smoke from fires that were being fed oxygen by the leaking atmosphere. One of the main engines were down and power was out across half of the ship. Blast point marks scoured the ship's hull. She wasn't pretty, but the ship held together and enough was working that it wasn't just a floating hulk of expensive metal and machinery.

Nearby, a sun glimmered its life giving life and if sensors were up, there would be several planet nearby as well in tight orbit, one of which was nestled right in the Goldilocks zone. However, sensors were the least of the crew's concern. Atmosphere was rapidly going out and the jump had put enormous stress of the weight bearing frames. The ship was at threat of simply falling apart like a cookie that had been soaked in milk for far too long.

The bridge was hit hard as well, but the airtight integrity was maintain and despite all that happened, the ship's safety systems prevented any loss of life for the crew.

On the bridge, no one breathed a sigh of relief after the harrowing escape from the law.

After refusing to comply with verbal orders, the federal ships had attempted to physically stop the Aurora with tractor beams, but the Aurora's specially designed hull made her impervious to such measures. Next, they tried to shoot out her engines and very narrowly succeeded, but she had gotten away, mostly due to Teth's flying.

Teth let go of the controls that had a coating of sweat of them from the older ranger's palms. Several times he had believed that it was over, but luck and skill had prevailed in the end. He wasn't even sure what had compelled him to jump into action and run the blockade. His first thoughts had been to simply give up, he had nothing to do with Rem's murderous rampage or whatever it was. Yet, before he had known what was going on, he was already accelerating and deploying countermeasures and by then, there was no going back.

"That was great flying back there," Rem said from behind Teth. His skin was white and now rapidly turning a shade of light green along with several others onboard who had never experienced the kind of maneuvers that Teth had put them through.

Rem left his own seat and went to the front and gazed out into space. There wasn't much to see. The sun and a few points of lights from nearby stars. The farther out stars weren't visible due to the brightness of the ship's internal lights.

"Is this it?" He turned to look at his navigator. "Is this the right system?"

The nervous looking Frenchman with a full mustache, complete with twirly ends, gazed at his screen and desperately looked for the answer. It had been Teth that had taken full control and made the jump. The navigator had no hand in the prep.

"It's the right system." Teth pressed a button on his seat which caused the chair to slide back of rails and turn to allow him to stand up. "I've made enough quick jumps out of a pickle to know this one went smooth enough."

"That's good," Rem nodded and turned to face Teth just in time to see the fist coming at him.

It was odd. Time seemed to slow down for Rem. Everyone around him just seemed to freeze in place while Rem felt as if he could move freely. He ducked under the fist coming at him from Teth and took a few paces to the side. He then studied Teth.

The old ranger looked furious. His wrinkles were wrung into a snarl and his face was just beginning to show the signs of red.

Rem then looked around him. What was going on? How was this possible, or had he died.

"You are not dead, my son." A voice rung through the ship, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. "You do not have to fear death any longer."

Rem turned around several times. "Who's there? What happening?"

The voice rumbled. Was that a laugh? The ship was vibrating. Or was it? It was difficult to tell. The whole world seemed surreal, as if in a dream.

"I had forgotten you and your dynasty, but now I remember," the voice spoke, ignoring Rem's questions. "Now you are so close and you bring a ship as well. My patience is being rewarded. Come, son. Find me. Free me."

The feeling began to fade and the world came back into focus in time for the fist to slam in Rem's face.

Rem reeled back from the hit, staggering and holding his cheek. It turned out that he hadn't moved at all. It had been in his head and yet, he felt certain that it wasn't a dream. It was something bordering between reality and imagination.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Teth screamed at Rem who had a blank look on his face.

Rem looked at Teth. "I don't know anymore." He still felt that need to scour the system for any signs of anything. Whatever it was that had driven him to go to such extremes was here. He knew it and yet the voice that had just spoke to him. It shook him. It scared him.

Teth threw up his hands and it seemed that he was going to hit Rem again, but he didn't. "We can never go back. You've fucked as all." He stormed off and out of the room.

Rem rubbed his jaw where he had been hit. It didn't hurt much, it was a solid hit, but meant to just jostle him. He looked around at the other people on the bridge. They were wide eyed. They were scared. But, he could tell, they were still looking to him for leadership.

"How long until repairs are done?" Rem asked anyone who could answer.

The comms technician, a young red head with fewer freckles than one would think a red head would have, spoke up. "Engineering reports that they'll have the ship in a stable state in less than 24 hours."

Rem nodded. It sounded reasonable. "I want preliminary scans done on the planets close enough to us. Also, make scans for wreckages." He walked to the edge of the room. "Notify me when you find something."

No one noticed that he didn't say "if."

Rem knew his own ship well and it wasn't hard to find Teth. The grizzled Ranger was in the mess room. He was nursing a beer he had dug out of the ice room. He looked up when Rem stepped passes the sliding door that whooshed open at his approach.

"What?" He growled, though he did seem less angry already.

"I've come to apologize." Rem sat down two seat away. Far enough away that Teth couldn't throw another punch if he decided to do so.

"Little late for that," Teth said and took another drink. It tasted like how piss smelled. Must have been something from the outer systems and since it came from Rem's stores, it must have been high quality for the poor folks in the frontier.

"I've been dreaming of this for a long time. My father, his father and his father. My entire heritage has been centered around coming here," Rem explained, or rather tried to explain the urge he felt. "I know it's difficult to explain, but I just knew that this expedition was exactly what my family was looking for."

Teth glanced over to Rem. He didn't fully understand how Rem seemingly knew that this was his destiny or something like that. Teth was not a pious man. He didn't believe in destiny or god or anything of that sort. He believed that a person was on their own in the universe and had to make their own fates. However, he did understand in a calling. He had known that the rangers were for him the moment he heard about them. Same with Rem. He knew that this was what he wanted.

"So you drag us all with you," Teth said and pushed the bad beer away.

"I couldn't do it alone."

Teth sighed. He was mad. Pissed. This single action of one man had changed his man for the rest of his life. He couldn't go back. Well. He could, but he was certain that he'd be arrested the moment he did go back. Then there was also the threat of the police coming after them. It was no secret that Rem had his eye on this system for a while. However, it was unlikely for the police to come.

There was no real force capable of chasing fugitives into uncharted space other than the rangers. Even if it was known that the Aurora had survived the jump, the police were a domestic force that operated only in settled space. Military use of the Cossus engine was strictly forbidden and so, private individuals would have to be commissioned to chase after them. It was too much trouble. No, just like with Marty, no one would come looking for them.

"I still need you," Rem said. "My crew will stand by me, but you're the ranger. We need you to trailblazer the way. If you say no, I will go back and drop you off somewhere where you'll be found, but I'll go alone if I have to."

Teth tapped his fingers against the table. They didn't come here the way he wanted to, as a legitimate expedition for Rem Corp, but they were here nonetheless. Going back would simply be going back on his word and his promise to discover the fate of his friend, Marty.

"I'll do it," Teth said and stood up and pointed at Rem. "But I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for Marty. He doesn't deserve to be forgotten."

Rem nodded. "I understand and thank you."

Teth began to walk off. "Don't thank me yet. We haven't found anything yet."

Everyone worked nonstop for the next eighteen hours. There was a lot of damage to subsystems and major systems. The crew managed to stop all of the fires and seal all of the atmospheric leaks and restore life support to optimal levels. The bad engine was brought up to minimal operating power and then all other vital systems were up and running in one form or another. It was once the scanners were fully restored, allowing for full system sweeps that they found something.

"What is it?" Rem asked, hovering over the navigator's shoulder. Rem had been asleep when he got a call. He was tired and red eyed and in a pair of shorts with no shirt on, but he didn't care. He had come running out of his room the moment he heard that they had found something.

"A signal," the navigator said and pointed at the source. "In deep space. Well outside the system, but in range of the ship without needing to jump."

"Does the signal say anything?" Teth asked. He was over the navigator's other shoulder. He studied the signal as it came in. "It looks like an older distress signal. Very old."

"That's exactly what it is," the navigator replied. "I haven't seen this kind of signal since I went through school. They taught us that during the pioneering days, when the Cossus engine was first made publicly available and every man of adventure got one and disappeared into space, they used this kind of radio signal. That was hundreds of years ago and the instructors would tell stories of long range freighters picking up what they would call ghost cries, which were the final transmissions of these pioneers, just going through space for all eternity. Cries of help to be heard too late."

"Creepy," Rem said with a mocking shudder. "But if it's as old as you say, then it cant be Marty."

"Who is it then?" Teth asked and the other two shrugged.

"Pirates?" The navigator said. I hear that they sometimes use older tech since that kind of single would mostly go under the radar." He paused to think for a moment. "Then again, they would have modern tech and would be broadcasting their distress signal on that rather than something as ancient as this."

"It's impossible to tell without a closer look," Rem said and Teth agreed. "Marty may have investigated if he picked it up." It was doubtful. Marty wouldn't have been scanning for such things, but still possible and it was a strange enough phenomenon and worth investigating.

The ship slowly came to life as it began to accelerate towards the signal. It would be four hours before they arrived.

In the meantime, Rem went to his stateroom and thought about the voice that had spoken to him. He hadn't heard it since, but he got the feeling that it wasn't gone either. There was something on his mind, there, as if looming over him and yet invisible. He could feel its presence like a change in humidity in the air. Though, that didn't scare him as much as the fact that it gave him deja vu. It seemed so familiar and he could almost recall why, but the truth eluded him barely.

Rem tried to recall his father and if he had ever mentioned voices of any kind, but couldn't. His father had been quiet about anything but exploration. He only spoke about the potential discoveries out there and how he would find them. That was it, but as time went on and I matter how much he accomplished, his father always wanted more. He was never satisfied and that was what killed him. He grew more and more fanatical. Was it the voice that drove him crazy? Would it do the same to Rem. Or had it already accomplished that? He had murdered already.

Rem lost track of time and before he knew it, he was getting a message that told him that they had arrived at the site of the transmission.

"Definitely old," Teth said from behind his place at the helm. "I haven't seen that kind of ship anywhere but in museums on Earth of all places."

"There's a slight power reading coming from it, sir." The navigator was now at one of the scanner consoles. Though his first priority was navigating, the man also filled the role of nearly half of the bridge crew.

Rem stepped in to see the wreckage. It wasn't as messy as he imagined a wreck to be. It was a large ship, twice as big as the Aurora, a boxy body with a turtle shell top where the bridge sat. The bridge looked charred and there were several hull breeches all along its side.

"Maybe pirates got this one a long time ago." Rem looked it over. Seemed plausible. "I wonder what it was carrying."

"A ship that big?" Teth said. "Pirates wouldn't have been able to take it all and they wouldn't have come for a second load. Too risky. Wouldn't be surprised if there's cargo left."

"Let's take a quick peek."

A small team of security members arrived at the port airlock. They were already in their sealed pressure suits and waited patiently for Rem to get dressed.

"You sure you want to come along, sir?" The security chief asked, his voice modulates by the suit's devices.

"Nothing there that should hurt me if I'm careful." Rem replied and snapped his helmet into place, a satisfying hiss when it sealed properly. "Plus I got you and your men to keep me safe."

It was a good enough answer and they all filed into the airlock. It was a bit cramped and uncomfortable, but Rem was now excited. It was the first step in realizing his life goals. Fuck the company, fuck everything else.

The room dimmed and filled with red lights as it depressurized. A timer appeared on the outside wall, counting down the seconds until the depressurization was complete. When it reached zero, the door opened to space.

Rem stepped out, followed by his men.

Teth had positioned the ship just ten meters away from the wreck. More than close enough to jump and even if he missed, the suit had small thrusters that would allow him to fly back.

"I'm making the jump." Rem said over the open comm and aimed himself at one of the perforations in the ship's hull. He figured that most of the power was gone and that he wouldn't be able to just ring the doorbell and walk in through an airlock.

"Right behind you," the security chief replied.

Rem swung his arms and launched off with his legs. For a few seconds there was absolutely nothing tethering him to anything and it was at that moment that he felt a surge in the voice's presence. He had a moment of panic before he hit the side of the derelict. His magnetic soles on his boots locked him into place and he was jarred a little.

"You alright, sir?" He could hear his medical officer from the ship. "Your heart rate and blood pressure just spiked."

He wasn't sure if he was alright, but they couldn't know that.

"I'm fine," he reassured them. "Just never did that before."

"Getting your space legs," the security chief replied and landed smoothly next to Rem.

"Yeah," Rem nodded and let the chief slap him on the back. "Let's get inside."

The hole in the ship was big enough for two full grown men to enter, but they went in one by one for safety. Rem was the third one in and didn't go until he had gotten an all clear.

"Looks like someone's room," a man commented and Rem had to agree.

There was a bed, still made neatly along with a computer, but not much else. Rem figured that it was all ejected when the explosion opened up the side of the ship. He wondered if anyone was in the room when that happened. It would seem like a terrible way to go.

"Signal is coming from deeper in the ship," the chief said and approached the closed door. He stopped and looked at it. "Sir, look at this."

Rem approached and looked at where the chief's helmet light was shining.

There were slight grooves in the metal, almost invisible.

"What is it?" He asked and looked at the chief's grim face.

"Finger nail scratches."

Someone had been in the room and the notion sent chills down Rem's spine.

"We need to keep moving," Rem said and backed away so he wouldn't have to look any longer. Whatever happened here, it happened a long time ago. He knew that. There was nothing here that could purposely hurt him.

The chief got several of his men to start prying the door open, but when that didn't work, they broke out plasma torches and began cutting.

After several minutes, the door was open and they went through into a hallway. On the other side of the door, it was clear that someone had both destroyed the door's opening mechanism and welded metal bars across it to stop anyone from forcing the door open.

"I wonder what happened?" One of the security personnel asked.

"Anything could have happened," Teth replied from the ship. "Mutiny, interstellar fever, just going crazy or an inside job. Any number of things."

"It all happened a long time ago," the chief said. "We need to keep going, sir. These suits done have unlimited oxygen."

"Yeah," Marty said as he got more of a sense of deja vu.

They passed more closed doors. Some were barred, some weren't. It seemed random, but it spoke of something tragic that had happened here.

They didn't divert from their course and went straight to the bridge. It was also barred shut and they had to cut through the blast doors here which were much thicker, but not impenetrable.

Inside, there was signs of a fire. Everything was burnt or covered with a thick layer of soot. There were also bodies. Four of them.

They were unrecognizable, but from their positions crowded around the blast door, they had been trying to get out as well, but burned to death.

"I'm going to be sick," one of the men said and turned to step out. Rem felt slightly nauseous as well, but the sight didn't bother him nearly as much as he thought it would. He still kept a wide berth from the bodies as they went further onto the bridge.

"There," the chief said and stalked over to what was a fifth body. It was leaned over a console, a console that had a single glowing button.

Rem approached and without hesitation, pressed it.