CAL sat on one of the leather couches in the lounge, Anaya comfortably resting on his shoulder. It had been nearly an hour since Naught summoned everyone, and he was barely awake, drifting in and out of sleep, as he waited for Naught and the other member to arrive. Wahno sat on the ceiling, meditating, though CAL could swear he heard snoring. Even Pious, who arrived sometime ago, had preoccupied herself with a book. Her crinoline closed like an umbrella as she sat on the couch opposite him.
CAL’s eyes closed and opened as he drifted in and out. Opening once more to find someone standing right in front of him. He jumped, startling Anaya, leaving his voyeuristic guest unfazed.
“Uh… Can I help you?”
“Look at that, Naught’s new pup can talk.”
Pious looked up from her book. “Now, now, Alt, play nice. Let’s not forget, you were Naught’s new pup once too.”
Alt walked to the other couch and took a seat allowing CAL to get a better look at her, and he could hardly believe his eyes. Aside from her deathly pale grey skin, she was indistinguishable from a normal Human or Demia. Dark blue and purple hair neatly fell down to the shoulders of her blue jacket, the sleeves of which were black with blue stripes. Leaving it open, the shirt beneath, had the logo of the metal band Slipknot plastered across it in blood red letters. Even her legs were normal, wearing the matching pair of pants with her jacket.
“Um… Okay, I have to ask, are you-”
“Yes, I'm a Sanctus.” She answers irritably, her voice dour, and devoid of all emotion save for annoyance at the current topic. “If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have survived your bladed frenzy from last month.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, I was-”
“I don’t need an apology from the likes of you. But you can certainly do me a favor and stay the hell away from me. Can you do that Pup?”
“Listen, I don’t know where the sudden hostility is coming from, but girl, I’d appreciate it if you dropped it. I already said sorry for knifing you.”
Alt was about to retort when Naught rounded the Corner with a stack of papers in hand.
“ALRIGHT! Sorry about the wait everyone, but politics is a losing game no matter what side you're on. I’d like to get right into the meeting but I’m willing to take any questions regarding staff duty, and custodial rotations before we begin.”
He turned to CAL for a moment. “I’ll answer all of your questions this evening CAL. Believe me, there is a lot to go over and a one on one session will be far more conducive that a group meeting.”
Pious raised her hand.
“Yes, Pious?”
“Where’s Zav? Did you assign him a mission?”
Not at all. Zav is off doing his… thing. I’d rather give him his peace and privacy considering the meaning behind it, that’s not a problem is it?”
“Not at all! I was just concerned with his safety.”
“You're always the mother hen aren’t you, Pious?”
The two shared a smile before Naught pulled up a holographic display in the middle of the lounge.
“Alrighty then, let’s get this show on the road! First order of business, this is CAL.”
Naught gestured to CAL, a display of him fighting on Durst appeared as he did so.
“I believe you all have met him by now, and the rambunctious little one next to him is Anaya. Both are from the Jungle Deathworld Durst, and they will be staying here for the time being. At least until they get some ground under them and are ready to decide whether they want to stay here or explore the wider galaxy.”
The Display shifted to the image of a beautiful planet, resting comfortably in a bright green solar system.
“The second order of business, The Republic has received several long range radio transmissions from Imago 6, in the Imago system. As you all are well aware, the system was lost in a radiation storm since the end of the Great War. What you all don’t know is the system has recently been deemed Survivable. Meaning ships can enter the system with only moderate chance of death and radiation poisoning. The Republic is sending an entourage of ships to investigate the system, led by the Maiden Class ship Liar’s Funeral. It will be leaving on its voyage in about two weeks, and the President would like us to follow them should they not report back within the standard 3 month reconnaissance period. I informed Republic Command we will send a team to investigate should anything happen, however, it will not be right away as our Shadow Engines are still under repair.”
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Alt raised her hand, while keeping her attention firmly on the display.
“Alt. Question. Go!”
“Do you know who’s going on this mission?”
“Not quite yet, The President really wants a show of force if things go south. But I really don’t think that is necessary, the only one i confirmed to the President is Zav as they both know each other fairly well and it’s an easy way to calm his fears. Any other questions on this topic?”
Giving a quick glance around the room, he continued. The display shifted to the image of a Crimson lower case T shaped slab, golden symbols carved into the center of it.
“Next up, a quick report on the Zolmens. Zones 1, 2, 5, and 7 report zero activity. Zones 3 and 6 report periodic surges, but nothing close to a stage 1. 4 on the other hand is showing signs of a possible breach in Zolmen 45 and 29. NightBringer and Ikari have yet to report back the status of both of them. Though we should have those reports by the end of the day. CAL, you have a question.”
“Yeah, what’s a Zolmen?”
“Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about you. I’ll explain later, long story. Just know that these things are apocalyptic news if they open up.”
The display shifted once more to a pair of silhouettes.
“Moving on, this will get you excited, Alt. We will be picking up Voltage and Khyron in a few weeks, they will be operating with us, to get a different experience from their usual jobs.”
“How long will Volt be here!?” Alt asked excitedly, the first time CAL heard any inflection in her voice other than annoyance.
“As long as he wants, unless the Storm Riders call him back. Lastly, we move on to the most pressing matter of the day. Calica’s personal ship has just arrived in our inner orbit and should be docking in a matter of minutes. If you don’t mind Wahno, teleport us down to the Imperial Docks.”
“Gotcha, my man. Hope you got a can down there”
Floating down from the ceiling, Wahno spun around rapidly. The entire room seemingly followed as it slowly warped from the dark and comforting walls and fireplace of the lounge to the sleek chromatic white of the viewing room. Its design ironically enough mirrored the lounge to such a degree they didn’t even need to move from their seats, finding themselves on the exact same seats as before. The primary difference between the rooms was instead of the comfortable command center being right behind Naught, a wall to wall window now took its place.
“How in the world do you do that?” CAL asked in utter amazement.
“The question isn’t how can I do it, it’s how many times can i do it and with how many people, before i need to puke.”
Floating to the far side of the room and telekinetically lifting a trash can to his face, Wahno’s face mask opened and he violently vomited into the can.
“Guess I’m not getting the answer to that question.”
CAL carefully began to get up, realizing Anaya fell asleep on his shoulder. Gently placing her on the couch, he walked over to the window, standing next to Naught and Pious. Looking down below he saw the grandeur of the Imperial Docks. Pristine, white, open, and adorned with the heraldry of hundreds of different ships. But more important than those were the prisoners who stood in formation across the entire length of the dock. Guilty and innocent alike stood shoulder to shoulder in their orange garbs awaiting their judge, jury and possible executioner's arrival, and they would not have to wait long.
The haunting howl of a thousand screaming souls announced the arrival of the Baleful Mourning. Connecting to the docks, its horrifying image caused several of the prisoners to faint, and the guards to tighten their stance.
“T-T-That’s a Ghast Whale!!!
CAL said in utter shock, his mind floating back to the long nights on Durst. Remembering seeing pods of those beautiful titans drifting by the planet, gorging themselves on stardust and the remnants of ships. To see the corpse of such a magnificent creature mangled and desecrated like that, it left him applaud and filled with disgust.
The Baleful Mourning, standing at nearly half the station’s length, was a marvel of necromancy and cruel scientific genius. Its desiccated fanged skull was hot wired, stitched and framed together with the haul parts of several hundred ships. Its once graceful fins now resemble skeletal wings, flesh corroded cannons ripped out of the metal infused reanimated muscles of its sides and back. Even its tailfin has been replaced and retrofitted with the largest buzzsaw CAL had ever seen.
“Okay, so the lives of these prisoners are in the hands of a certified batshit insane ghoul? This bodes poorly for them.”
Naught laughed awkwardly.
“Legend has it Calica took on that whale after it stranded her ship on a barren planet. After 2 months of repairs and constant attacks from the whale and her treacherous crew she flew back into orbit. With only her ship and a few auto drones, she killed the whale and spent 3 months dragging the corpse across the starways, until she found a man demented enough to retrofit the wrecked ship into the body of the Whale. Insane doesn’t even begin to describe the horror that is the Ghoul of the Nether Stars, and you haven’t even seen the show yet.”
“The Show?”
As if to answer CAL’s question, a thundering church organ, hellish bass guitar, and trio of soul tearing electric guitars rang out in a crashing cacophony of the most gothic symphonic metal CAL had ever heard. It was like a funeral procession except instead of burying the dead, it was welcoming their maggot filled, rotting carcasses back from the grave.
The docking doors opened, welcoming a procession of red robed priests, each carrying the impaled, flayed, limbless corpses of men and women. 24 Priests in total, 12 agony filled corpses of each gender held high in tribute to their queen. After clearing the way and stepping aside, a beautiful crimson carpet came rolling out of the doorway. Followed by 24 Warriors clad in bone armor, each calcified shard adorned with red and gold metal. The warriors took a place between the grim priests, brandishing a black blade and impaling it in the ground before them as they knelt.
A single, monolithic man clad in the same armor followed after them, microphone in his plated fist. Face obscured by a fog of vicious darkness, granting visibility only to his piercing red eyes.
“Attention, The Black Queen, The Lady of the Black Sea, The Hordemaster, The Mistress of Pain, The Ghoul of the Nether Stars, The CEO if you are feeling sassy, has arrived. I introduce and reintroduce you all to: Calica, The Queen of the Pirates!”