Chapter 10: Chapter 9 – Mors Caminus

“What do you think Pa?” asked Sylen with excitement and curiosity, watching his face from up close. “We should go and check it out!” wagged her tail behind her, making Omega smile involuntarily.

 

“...” Miyon was silently watching the bracelet on the table, still displaying the rotating holographic image of the battlesuit. 

 

“Pa! Pa! Say something!” nudged his hands Sylen. 

 

“Let’s say we go and find it. What is next? You want it for yourself?” looked up, into Omega’s eyes, trying to see the truth inside of them. 

 

“I would be the one operating it at first, yes.” replied, not denying it “If it is even in a working condition! None of you are trained to use it at all.”

 

“Heh, and I assume you are?” scoffed Miyon, leaning back on his chair, in the ship’s lounge area. 

 

“Apparently so.” nodded, staying calm and serious. “Before I could pass it onto your granddaughter, I would need to train and teach her how to operate it.”

 

“What?” flinched Sylen but she immediately got even more excited, looking at Omega with sparkling eyes. “I would be able to pilot it?!”

 

“In time, yes.” smiled at her Omega.

 

“Hmf!” snorted Miyon, in part to reign in his granddaughter. “If all is true what you told us about it, this is a dangerous weapon!”

 

“Of course it is! It was made for war!” replied Omega, without denying the obvious or trying to persuade him. 

 

“We CAN go and see if it is still there. We CAN recover it if we find it…. BUT!” looked Miyon at Sylen first before leaning forward, turning his eyes towards Omega “You won’t pilot it! Neither Sylen! We come back and sell it to the military!”

 

“Pa!” protested Sylen. The prospect of piloting something like that was truly enchanting. Being robbed of it was quickly turning her mood sour. 

 

“Deal?” ignored her Miyon while Omega simply smiled.

 

“Okay.” answered, without any frustration. Reaching forward he just tapped on the bracelet, letting the image switch into a small slice of a star chart. “I narrowed down its last known destination!” stood up, walking to the wall-mounted console close by, bringing up the ship’s own star charts, flipping through them. “Here!” stopped at one, enlragening it. “Nowadays the territory is occupied by another species. They go by the name of…” nibbled on his lips, trying to say it in his head first “Ghykwo… ghikwo… Gwiko…” mumbled, sounding like if something was stuck in his throat.

 

“In the Gynkwhon’s territory?!” stood up Miyon with a scared look and even Sylen gulped, watching the image.

 

“Gyn..gink… yeah, that!” shook his head Omega, shrugging as it was way too hard to pronounce for him.

 

“No way I am stepping one foot into that place! Are you out of your mind?!” Miyon shouted at him. 

 

“Huh? Why?” looked at them with confusion Omega, not getting why the sudden anger. 

 

“Pa! Relax… he doesn’t know!” patted her grandfather’s back Sylen before explaining it to him. “They are a… a carnivorous species and a very savage one at that. In their tongue, their name means ‘The ones who resist’.“ gulped audibly, just saying it out “They are an ancient species, dating back to your time! You don’t remember them?”

 

“Them?” tilted his head Omega. “Nothing. Not from the name at least! Do you have any image of their kind?” 

 

“Sure…” licked her lips Sylen nervously, walking to the console, bringing up the image of their species. 

 

Just looking at them made both Sylen and Miyon shudder. Their bodies were slim, sickly yellowish, standing on four, bug-like legs. Telling from the details of the image, they stood between 1,6 and 1,9 meters tall, with different amounts of arms attached to their torso. The older one got, the more ‘sections’ their body grew out from the middle, gaining multiple thoraxes along the years. From there they were spurting boney, arms that were capable of turning in all directions and rotating in any way they saw fit. Their heads were in the shape of a horseshoe, the two ends of it filled with multiple eyes, giving them a perfect, 360 vision. Their mouths were that of a mandible, hiding a long, spiked tongue inside of it. 

 

“What are these for?” asked Omega, pointing at one of the most disturbing parts of the image “These hundreds of small, oval shaped holes… They go along their front, from neck to bottom!” asked Omega, watching calmly, studying the alien lifeform with a calm eye. He was taking in not just the small information pieces, written on the image, marked with a skull and red text, saying ‘keep away at all costs’ but he was also making a mental image of the creature’s body and searching for possible weaknesses. 

 

“Those are for… eggs.” Sylen just licked her dried up lips again, her tail and ears becoming twice their usual size as the fur stood upwards on them. She looked like, alongside Miyon, as if both of them were zapped by a stray lightning bolt. “They keep their larvae in their own bodies, letting them eat their own flesh until they find a host, to implant them into… Usually in moist and warm holes… so the children could eat their way… inwards.” explained slowly, shuddering.

 

“Ah!” clapped his hands together, scaring Sylen who was way too into her own imagination by then.

 

“What?!” jumped a little “You remember them?!” 

 

“No.” looked at her calmly “But they are gross!” 

 

“It gets worse.” spoke up Miyon “They were around when Humans ruled the Galaxy. They are one of the species who fought against them constantly. Their original planet, if their own legends are true, were conquered and then burnt to the ground. We don’t know if this is true, nobody knows where their homeworld was by now, not even them! But they insist that they were fighting humans long before any other species. Their hatred is one of the strongest towards us… Luckily they only control 4 systems! And are also at war with all of their neighbors!”

 

“Oh. So they are not good neighbors, huh?” chuckled Omega, still watching their displayed image.

 

“Not really.” shook his head Miyon “Now, do you understand? I won’t plan a course into their territory! No matter the rewards!” 

 

“Yeah… we should really leave it at that!” nodded Sylen too, switching off the console “Nobody sane would intrude into one of their systems! Not without an army following along!”

 

“Hm…” crossed his arms Omega before sighing “I see! Then we should sell it to your army. I mean the bracelet!” closed his eyes for a little while, before reopening them, smiling again “I’ll unlock it so it could be worn by anyone, having at least 70% of human genes. Any lower than that and they would be unable to sync up with the suit!” 

 

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“That… could still be worth a lot of money!” whispered Miyon, already liking his new approach a lot more. “If they can study it they can determine if they are willing to risk it! We did our part, provided the information, it is a win-win situation!” 

 

“Um! We may even get some recognition!” agreed Sylen, a bit disappointed she wouldn’t get to pilot it in the end but going into Gynkwhon territory? Not even for a whole new ship, made out of gold!

 

“I understand.” said Omega with a smile, watching the pair slowly calming down. “I won’t ask you to do something you are unwilling to do! Let’s trade it in then.” pointed at it, signaling to Miyon to take it away as it should be him as captain to do so. 

 

“Thanks.” said Miyon, a bit surprised, nodding at Omega, drawing a smile onto Sylen’s face, seeing her grandfather finally showing some of his kinder side to him. 

 

…

….

…..

 

It was two days later, when their ship got ejected from the Astropath, arriving at the Ushitar system. In the cockpit Miyon was sitting strapped in, same with Sylen, while Omega was sitting at a side console, in his own chair, behind the two. His panel was nothing but a secondary scanner, without any serious function but it acted as a great window towards the ship’s surroundings, showing things that the naked eye could not perceive. 

 

This region of space itself was labeled as a “cold system”. Its star died a long time ago, replaced by a white dwarf, spinning quickly in the distance. In its earlier phase, it already gobbled up the innermost planets, before finally dissipating and leaving behind his coldly shining core. What remained of the previous star system was only three stellar bodies. A frozen, rocky planet, slowly crumbling and being torn apart. The reason as to why, was the second object, a gas giant, slowly changing its course, its orbit falling closer and closer to the white dwarf. It already destroyed the remaining, who knows how many planets, leaving a huge asteroid belt behind its path, continuing its silent rampage. The third object was… not natural. It was man made. A station, built amongst the asteroid field, the size of a moon and it was blinking its many lights constantly. 

 

It was the main shipyard of the Neo-Hegemony, named Mors Caminus. It was a name that the station still had painted on the side of its main hub, built by humans 5000 years ago and rediscovered by Kaltazar. Nobody knew by now what it meant, but as it was given to it by humans, they would never dare to rename it. Everyone knew, it was one of the most important backbones of their empire. More than half of their ships were made here or came here for maintenance. The Gate of Kaltazar was built here and most of its later add-ons also could trace their origin back to the forges of Mors Caminus.

 

From afar it looked like a snowflake, enlarged millions of times. All of its different parts were capable of constructing from the smallest fighters to the largest motherships. If those differently designated sections were programmed in the correct way, the whole station could be used to put together a modular platform, easily attachable to the Gate of Kaltazar. 

 

“Interesting…” said to himself Omega, watching on, his fingers sometimes flinching, drawing a curious smile onto his face. The shipyard was not just getting its resources from different parts of the Neo-Hegemony, but also from the rich asteroid field around it. Hundreds of mining ships were scurrying back and forth, gobbling up the remains of planets, turning the dead rocks into usable materials. 

 

“Mors Caminus, this is the Dawn.” spoke up Sylen, opening a channel as they approached the shipyard. “I am transmitting our identification code right now for permission to dock!”

 

“Roger Dawn.” came the answer from a raspy, male voice. “It checks out. Will it be a specific part that needs to be repaired, a full overhaul, upgrading or something else?” 

 

“It is going to need complete maintenance, down to the ship’s core. We had an unexpected encounter outside and we don’t know if the ship is still 100% operational or not. Our scans are unreliable if the core systems did receive damage.” replied Sylen, almost smiling, remembering how they picked up Omega. 

 

“Roger, then proceed to Quadrant B.44, a technical team is going to be assembled by the time you dock in. The estimated time for a full maintenance is twelve days.” 

 

“Acknowledged.” nodded Sylen, sighing a little, knowing they are going to be stuck here for almost two weeks. Unlike the Gate of Kaltazar, this was a shipyard first and foremost, with much fewer options to have some fun. “Also… we have something to sell.” shook her head, knowing, this was the part that is going to be interesting. 

 

They could have gone to someone on the Gate of Kaltazar, finding someone who would establish contact for them with the military or with some politician… but that would take months. Worse, even years. Not to mention it was a mess of webs of interconnected interests. Something they did not want to tangle themselves in. The different nodes on that station acted like their own nations, not something they were interested in navigating through. On the other hand, Mors Caminus was completely operated and ruled over by the military of the Neo-Hegemony. Yes, they were servicing the civilian population, just like how they designated a group of mechanics to their problem… but they were, in the grand picture, nothing but interns. Young souls who were still learning, sent to the fields to work on civilian crafts, learning the ins and outs of their trade before they got their hands dirty by building true warships. Selling it here would mean selling it directly to the military. Or they would just seize it by force… a risk they were willing to take.

 

“Dawn, this is a shipyard not the market. If there is-” came the annoyed voice over the speakers but Sylen was ready for it.

 

“Sending over a sample image of what we came across.” replied without a wait and sent over an image of the active bracelet, displaying the image of the Suit of Ares. At first there was nothing but static, then the radio feed suddenly cut out. “Pa?” gulped Sylen, looking at him but he just shook his head.

 

“Wait.” whispered Miyon, slowing down the ship’s speed. Ten, nerve wrecking minutes later they were hailed again, on a different channel.

 

“This is the Dawn.” Sylen activated the comms with a trembling finger.

 

“This is Major General Parthen, I am transmitting over new coordinates. Dock at this position. Your ship’s overhaul is covered by us. Until my guys go over and refit you with a new, sturdier core system, I’d be happy if you accompany me to a drink. Along with your discovery.” 

 

“We would be honored, Major General.” replied Miyon now. “My name is Miyon, I am the captain of the Dawn.” 

 

“Well met, Captain.” came the greeting but it was clear, it was mere formality. 

 

“We received the coordinates, initiating docking procedures.” continued Miyon, gulping audibly. 

 

“Don’t worry… you are amongst your family.” echoed Parthen’s voice before the feed was cut once again. 

 

“This was… scary!” moaned Sylen, wiping her forehead.

 

“It is the army. At least we are over the first hurdle! If nothing else, we can spare the money for the maintenance!” smiled weakly Miyon.

 

“Their weapons are still armed and aiming at us. Only our scanners are being blocked from picking it up.” spoke up Omega, who remained silent so far. “Also, there are four ships on our left that changed their course and were ready to cut off our retreat at any given time.”

 

“Really?!” Sylen looked back at him, shrugging “Scary!” 

 

“It is the military!” laughed Omega “I would be more surprised if they would welcome us with open arms! Worry not, they wouldn’t be able to hurt us, not as long as I am here.”

 

“Thanks…” smiled Sylen but she only took it as him, comforting her nerves. Even Miyon took it as nothing but empty boasting.

 

On the other hand, Omega was watching his scanner readings, his fingers suspended in the air, gently caressing invisible strands under them that nobody else could see, only him. If someone would follow these thin lines, through the walls of the Dawn, all of them would spread outwards, connected exactly to those ships he was telling them about. As to what it would do if he just plunk one of them… only he knew.

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