Chapter 13: Clean-up
Joseph looked out at the endless expanse of the void. According to the report they were briefed on, this place was the home to a galaxy but now contained motes of dust and radiation light, the remnants of what used to be stars and planetary bodies destroyed by the Kul’tecka. His responsibilities included verifying and eliminating any remnants, a task not solely assigned to him but also to his platoon. They were part of the 329th Eradication Corps.
He was not a high-ranking member of the Core, but he was not the lowest either. He sat just comfortably in the middle of the pack, enough not to get the worst jobs but not to have the most responsibility among his peers. He had even gone as far as to make sure that his record reflected the average soldier. It was tricky to do that, for there had been many battles in the universe that caused whole divisions and even battalions to be lost in a single moment. Rogue gods had that ability, after all, and they were all but chaff for their creations to munch on as the upper echelon handled the rogue gods.
After all, the Kul’tecka were supreme in this universe, and their rule was righteous in their claiming of all elements and beings. Many soldiers and civilians living in the prime world were led to believe that.
On the other hand, Joseph did not care too much about that. He was here, after all, for the credits. Life in a third world was not that kind if you did not have the money to do what you wished. Even an apartment in the Third World still costs thousands of credits. That’s why he went on these dangerous missions and even took on some rather boring ones for the extended pay. Either that or he would have to transfer back to the Eradication Corps world of Mali’tecka, which Joseph did not want to do. The mandatory training and physical training alone would persuade many to try to get off the world as soon as possible.
Joseph rechecked the container that he was beside once again. This was his watch and his responsibility. The container looked like a large rectangle with magic circuits throughout the entirety of the device. Inside would be the Devour Plague. A very nasty creature. It was called a plague because of its rapid proliferation; it would be released and controlled by the user to go forth and eradicate anything made of matter. With each piece that they devoured, they would, in turn, make untold amounts of themselves. Joseph was once told the origin of the story of them, but he couldn’t fathom such heresy.
It was told that the Devour Plague was made by a rogue god that had destroyed not only his but many other galaxies just to attempt to eradicate the Kul. Kul refers to the overall population and galaxies that were controlled by the Kul’tecka. A sample of the Devour Plague was quarantined and then dissected by the upper Kul members. After they realized that it was a magical creature that had no purpose but to destroy, they quickly changed the formatting of the biological aspects of it and created a weapon that they used instead on foolish gods that proved to be most troubling. It wasn’t something that was used lightly, for if one made a small mistake, the user could accidentally eradicate themselves and possibly many solar systems around before the next company would come in and initiate the kill switch.
He, however, just thought that the Kul made it themselves. Vilifying other rogue gods to spread hate and mistrust in those that were not the Kul. It was not the general opinion, though, so he just kept it to himself. Heresy and all that. It just meant that he had more time to think then the average person. What he didn’t understand was why they were all the way out here on the edges of the universe looking at dust and lights and why they carried a galaxy ending weapon.
A buzzing sound came from his wrist as he turned it over revealing a gem that was implanted. The System had a notification. He opened it up and read the contents.
Notice The System has a message to all relevant personnel.
Open?
Yes --- No
He gave a sigh and opened the message. If he did not he knew that he would get displanary action against his record, and that could mean a loss of rank, which in turn, meant a loss of pay. With his other hand he hit the Yes icon and waited for the message.
Orders to the 328th Corps In accordance with the Kul’tecka, the mission is a go, to scan and verify any remaining soul fragments. This includes but is not limited to the rogue god and any creations it may or may not have had. If any soul fragments of the rogue god are found, release the Devour Plague and program to eradicate all energy in the designated area. Any deviations of the above parameters of the above order will result in the purging of their individual soul essence and the destruction of any biological remains of their genome.
Acknowledge order
Confirm --- Deny
Obviously, he hit the Confirm icon and started the process of scanning from the container. He was on duty… so this would make it his job for the scan and any subsequent release of the Devour Plague.
The magic circuits roared to life at the inputs of mana into the system in key points as the magi-tek device started its bootup and process of doing the initial scan. While he waited, he went to one of the many display screens on the hull of the ship and opened it up with a bit of mana that streamed into it. He wanted to look outside instead of looking at the galaxy-ending container.
Before the screen lit up, he saw his reflection. He looked quite young, maybe around the age of eighteen to twenty-one. He stood around five ten and had dark brown hair that could almost be mistaken for someone that had black or raven-like hair. His face wasn’t that bad to look at, either. He was a decent-looking man with a strong jawline and deep blue eyes. Some even said the color could almost resemble a pulsar with its blues and whites. Though he looked young, he was around fifty years of age. The genome editing that the Corps did was great; it would extend his life by a few hundred years or so. Though the only reason that the Corps did that was for the accidental issues where they would need to leave a platoon or a force in a place for an extended duration, it was cheaper to do this than to keep recruiting new species.
The screen lit to life as he witnessed the ripples across space in a spherical motion around the cruiser. If there were anything out there left after the Prismatic Wave was released, then that would be a miracle. He left the screen on and adjusted the scanner to include magical emissions as well. It would detect if there was any form of magic that had been used in the location in the last couple of cycles. A thin spherical wave of multi-colored light erupted from the ship behind the first. That’s when the screen popped up a notification on the container. It was a stand-alone piece of magi-tek and not connected to any other systems aboard the ship or anyone else's devices as well. He opened the icon and started to read.
Observation Scan Report One fragmented soul was detected.
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Tier: 10 greater god soul fragment(s) detected Release Devour Plague?
Yes --- No
That was surprising. A tier 10 greater god soul… what kind of galaxy was this? He thought to himself as he hit the Yes icon. A low hum sounded as he designated the correct amounts of the Devour Plague to only target the soul itself. Then with a dull thud he heard a smallish torpedo launch and deliver its payload in the void. He watched as small shimmering lights could be seen as they started to devour the left over bits of the soul essence.
Wait… just one soul? He thought as he checked the magi-tek once again to double verify. The report mentioned that this portion of space had been occupied by a single species in the billions… why was there only one soul detected? There should have been some left… even a few million or so. This made no sense at all.
That’s when a new notification popped up, and he selected it to open quickly. It was from the mana sensor. The numbers startled him as he unconsciously stepped back. The amount of mana that was used in this one space was larger than he had ever seen. Something or someone had used more than a galaxy's worth of mana in a short time. He quickly sent a few more mana pulses out to scan and verify a few more times. All the numbers kept coming back the same.
“What in Kul’s name happened here?” he wondered aloud as he started walking up to the command deck to inform the captain. This was abnormal and needed to be further discussed and reported. A more detailed scan needed to be made, and that could only be made from the command deck instead of just the container.
He knocked on the door. “Magi-tek officer Farbanks requesting entrance to the command deck.” He said as he placed his gem on his wrist on the panel.
The System responded in a cold voice. “Accepted.” From the gem in his wrist.
With sure steps, he entered the room. At this time, many individuals of varying races were on the command deck. Everyone would be on high alert when the plague was used. The screens were lit up, taking in calculated movements and spatial readings of various types. He moved up to the appropriate area and saluted the Dragkin captain.
“Sir, I have a report from the devourer magi-tek room,” Joseph said in a crisp voice.
The Dragkin turned to look at the unassuming man before him. He really didn’t like the pink ones. They were typically rash and too bold for their station. He glowered at the human, “What is it, MT Officer?” he asked in a barking voice, already irritated to be this far from the core worlds.
Joseph knew that the reptilian-looking race were some of the most complicated people to work under. They typically just didn’t like anyone. Though with the System that was in place, no one person was over any other, racism and ire would never be quelled. The captain was a large, red, lizard-looking, imposing figure. He stood roughly seven and a half feet tall and didn’t let any of his physical training go to waste. He was a very burly man, almost appearing as if his muscles would bulge out of his captain uniform at any moment. The captain's skin was covered in small scales that covered high-impact areas, such as his lower arms, shoulders, and backside. His face was looked draconic. That is probably why they thought so highly of themselves… they believed, after all, that they were born from the dragon of myth.
“I have discovered through the use of the container that an astronomically large amount of mana was used in this area. Not to mention that there was only one soul detected in this area that we were informed by the System to come to.” Joseph stated as he stayed at attention. He wasn’t told to stand down or dismissed in any way. It was just like Dragkin, after all.
“Hav’ you discover the reason?” Captain Ja’cob asked, growing impatient. “Speak MT Officer.” He started to tap his clipped talons on the armrest of his chair.
“Nay, sir, I came to the bridge to request usage of the more advanced scans to get an approximation of the amount of mana that was used here and their locations.” He said again. Joseph really thought that would be apparent. They had the same reports that he had.
Captain Ja’cob pondered for a moment. It would cause them to stay out here in this desolate place longer than he had wanted. His brood mate was expecting soon after all, and he hadn’t wanted to miss that. But when the System sent an order… it had to be followed, or else the penalties for disobeying would be harsh. And this was a priority order.
“Negative, MT officer Baybanks.” He started, making sure not to use the MT officer's actual name. “Our orders were to destroy anything that was left here, nothing more, nothing less.” He went back to looking over his mixed crew working diligently in fear of his wrath.
“Sir,” Joseph started and then was interrupted.
“I said negative, MT Officer Closebanks!” he half roared, causing most of the crew to jump in their seats. “This mission was granted to me by the System, and you will not…” he then was cut off as his wrist gem pinged a priority message. He grumbled as he opened it and hit a few buttons. The System notifications couldn’t be seen by any other person except by the person with the implant. “Well then, MT Officer Farbanks, it seems that the System has overheard your request and has overridden my commands.” He said, slamming his fist down on the armrest. “Make a indepth scan for mana disturbances.” He barked out his command making the crew on the deck jump. They all could tell he was in a bad mood and they would pay for it later.
Joseph stood there at rest and waited for the results. He had nothing else to do sense the devour plague was doing the job of cleaning up the remaining portions of the soul of the greater god that was here.
“Captain, the scan has been completed. Sending it to your console now.” A bipedal, again-looking female stated in a bird-song-like voice. She had feathers the color of a deep blue and sea-foam green, and stood roughly four foot and a half. Typically those of the Yum Yami didn’t serve in the Core… so Joseph just assumed she had issues of her own to be on a Dragkin ship. They were a really timid race after all.
Captain Ja’cob looked to his left where the display screen was located reading through the data. Even Joseph got a notification on his wrist gem and viewed the message as well.
Deep Mana Scan Mana value: Unknown high value
Mana type: Cosmic
Tier: god 8 In-depth scans indicate that a large portion of magic was used here. Not caused by the Prismatic Wave Oscillator. Values suggest god-level magic was used here for some unknown reason. Scans indicate that something or someone was sent off in various directions. Scans indicate that six such mana emissions were sent in five directions. Coordinates for trajectories are unknown but calculating.
Notice
The calculations are complete. Updating coordinates for mana emissions to the most probable locations now.
Notice
Coordinates have been completed.
Notice
New mission: Eradication of remnants of sector galaxy #129Y612C3-G10
Joseph sighed as he closed out the notifications. He looked at the captain and saluted, knowing that his job had just become a whole lot harder. “Sir, your orders?” he called out. “Which mana emission trail are we going to pursue?"
Captain Ja’cob grumbled in his seat. He had really wanted to get back to his brood mate, but this was a mission given on high by the System and couldn’t be ignored. Even the private message that he had received on his wrist gem was intimidating to read. He was supposed to lead this mission regardless of whether they succeeded or not. It could be considered to be a death warrant. If whatever that greater god had done was more than one cruiser could handle… well, he might just not see his newest clutch.
“Nav, set course for galaxy number 19875G23A-G01,” he paused as the deck ramped up to action as they set course. “MT officer, get ready your platoon and wake them, it seems like you're getting some world side time.” He said with a laugh, knowing full well that if things went to shit, he could always leave and go back to the Core world and request more meat for the slaughter.