Interlude One

Aristadus of Clan Dus awoke from his deep slumber with a gasp. Dry, uncomfortable air filtered through his gills and he opened his maw wide with a barely restrained growl before his mind caught up with him.

Ah, this was merely another awakening.

His lower eyelids slid over his eyes, wetting them, and he took a moment to look about himself.

An omen stood before him, its large, thin-limbed body pulled back and away from Aristadus’ pod even as it stared at him through its visor. Numbers and runes scrawled past the Omen’s multi-faceted eyes, and Aristadus idly noted the insignia on the creature’s sac covering. A medical omen.

“You are well,” it declared before pushing something forwards.

A bottle of water.

Aristadus took it, flicked the cap off, and sprayed the contents into his too dry mouth. It was cold and salty. Delicious. He wanted nothing more than to visit a pull and immerse himself, but he feared that he would have to content himself with a shower.

The omen unplugged him from the sleeper pod, and Aristadus climbed out and came to stand at his full height. Next to him, down a long corridor floored by grating and lit in near-purple lights were dozens of similar pods. Each had the glyph of clan Dus above them, and from their innards, others like him were rising.

In this moment, just after awakening, there was always a sort of angry camaraderie. None enjoyed this part, and one would enjoy it even less if someone decided to pull rank. So for now he wasn’t the captain of this crew, but another too-dry member of clan Dus being fussed over by irritable omen.

Once all were awoken and seen fit to act, the squad moved though the tight corridors of the Spinship. There were few amenities onboard a vessel like this one, but there were showers next to the armoury.

There was little water to waste, but enough that his group was able to requisition one shower for themselves. Lukewarm water poured down onto his scales and he chuckled at the sensation. They’d kicked another group out early, a clan Ios group led by a corvette captain. That only made it all the more worthwhile.

Once showered, he slid into his envirosuit, then donned his armoured regalia. One of his companions assisted him with the backplates, then was assisted in turn by one of equal rank.

It was good to be a captain, even if only of a destroyer.

He had ambitions beyond that, of course. Clan Dus wasn’t the most potent, but they were on the rise! And he’d rise with them and carry the clan to new heights.

“Captain Aristadus,” an omen with logistical glyphs asked. “You are asked for at the bridge.”

He nodded, then followed the omen through the spinship. “How long was the sleep?” he asked.

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“Twenty-three rotations,” the omen said.

Twenty-three years spent in sleep. No wonder he ached. Though it was far from his longest jump. “And our trip, how long did it take?”

The omen pulled a small device from its waist with its smaller set of arms and fiddled with it. “Six hours, twenty minutes at negative relativity.”

Not so bad, Aristadus judged. About what their astrologers had predicted.

He arrived in the briefing room and found it occupied already. A quick count of heads suggested that he wasn’t late yet, however. There were a few lesser captains missing still.

“Aristadus, good sleep?” someone asked.

He turned and found Deucodus standing nearby. She was a massive specimen, half a head taller than Aristadus and bulky with musculature. Her eyes were wider apart than his own, but she was still a member of the Dus clan, though he suspected she was a very distant cousin.

“The best,” he said. “Almost as good as in the oceans of Dus.”

She made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a chuckle. “This system has an ocean world too, you know. Maybe you can dip your gills into it later.”

He grunted and joined the others around the table.

The leader of this expedition was Cruiser captain Sotates of clan Tes. A fearsome older Ethopian who had seen his share of hard duty, and who was set to be given the captaincy of something greater soon.

Aritstadus was aiming for his seat one day. Perhaps after a few smaller patrols.

They arrayed themselves by seniority. Cruiser captain, then logistic ship captains (something that always caught in his gills, that a logistics ship would be given seniority over destroyers, but he understood. It was a dead-end promotion, but no less important) then destroyers like himself. Finally, the corvette captains at last.

“This system,” Sotates said. “Was culled some time ago. We are here to ensure that none has had any ideas since then.”

“Are we expecting trouble?” Deucodus asked.

“No. Maybe some omen scavengers come to pick the corpses clean. If we see any of their sort, we give them a free missile for their trouble and send them packing.”

Chuckles all around. The scavengers weren’t appreciated at the best of times, picking as they did at the corpses they left behind.

“We did notice one signal from near the system’s largest gas giant. We will detour to investigate. Aristadus, take your flight and go see about that. The rest of us will continue inbound towards the inner planets, then loop back to the Spinship.”

“Yes, cruiser captain,” Aristadus said.

Ah, responsibility! The fuel of ambition. Yes, perhaps this trip wasn’t an entire waste after all!

***