Chapter 2

Samael had a meeting scheduled with a woman named Vanessa Rovencroft in a week’s time. She all but begged him not to do anything impulsive and wait until they had their meeting. So he did. He promised and waited patiently. On the outside at least.

Inside he was a nervous wreck. The expectations he had from himself were high. Samael made sure he was well prepared. Reading and studying anything. A little excessive. Finally, his father made him stop and take a step back. Breathe and focus. Nothing he did or does during this meeting will end the world.

During the week, he met with his new friends, the bikers, and went on rides with them.

He had to unwind somehow so he went to the beach with them. It was fun. Not one of his things, but he learned to appreciate the little things in life. Like girls’ figures in a bikini.

Tremendous.

Mars’ beaches weren’t that great. Always either crowded or filled with killer algae. So they chose an indoor beach in the city next to New LA. Not that many people that wanted artificial sky, water and sand, but it grew on him. He learned that most interplanetary ships had one or another version of an indoor swimming pool for rest and relaxation.

He had a fun week. The meeting day came quicker than expected. Before he knew it, it was suddenly morning; he was rapidly getting ready and suddenly he was waiting near the front door waiting for the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen to enter with poise and grace of a royalty.

He found himself fumbling with his words, like always, when meeting a beautiful person, “Hello, you must be Samael van Ryn.”

Samael found it hard to describe her voice, “Yes you must be Miss Vanessa Rovencroft. Or should I call you Principal?” he asked.

She smiled, “Please call me Vanessa for now.”

He nodded and led her in, “Please, take a seat,” He offered while in the living room.

She chose a comfy sofa and carefully set her stuff down. A bag containing her personal computer, a data pad and a phone. She smiled and watched Samael, “Can I offer you something to drink?”

“A coffee please,” She said and watched him leave with a smile on her face.

She concentrated her attention on the room she was in. Various items dating back many millennia were on display, some were intriguing, while others just looked like a cheap knock off. Her attention was directed to a single picture resting on a small altar on a mantel piece. A gorgeous looking woman was looking her in the eye. She was breathtaking. She smelled traces of candle wax in the room and smiled.

Samael entered the room and spotted the woman looking around, “Sorry to make you wait, our coffee maker is broken. Had to use old the fashioned way.”

Her eyebrows went up, “Thought no one used it anymore.”

“Yeah, my father has a taste for old things. He’s kind of infected by it. My mom was a nut as well, you might say she infected him with the virus,” he smiled remembering their constant banter about all things old.

The woman’s smile was gentle as she sipped the warm coffee, “Where is your father? Thought he might talk with us about something this important.”

“He had to leave for work. He’s working off world on some project, but has given me full permission to do anything with a school of my choosing,” he explained.

Vanessa’s eyebrows lifted, “Oh, what does your father work entail?”

Samael shrugged his shoulders, “He rarely talks about it. Something about different particles or another, he’s told me just that its important, but I’ve yet to hear something clear from him,” he smiled nervously.

Interesting, Vanessa thought.

She sat her cup of coffee on the table in front of her and watched the young man sit next to her.

Samael looked forward to this interview.

Part 2

The warp field finally died down and in its place an Imperium’s transport appeared. A base was in front of it.

Captain Aleksey Androvojič’s first time going on this kind of mission. The pay wasn’t good, but it was something someone didn’t say ‘no’ to. He never understood why people never went on a second mission. It was a breeze. A literal snatch and grab from the old. One dreamed about these. The only thing that sucked was the coins.

“Helm, take us in. Coms, open hailing frequency, code Red-Omega-ELEVEN,” Captain said to his officers.

“Aye,” he got a brief answer from his com officer.

The captain had a special mission issued by the top Emissary of the Imperium. He was to retrieve all data from the recent breakthrough that the scientists on the remote research station had achieved.

He wasn’t privy to the type and contents of the reports, neither did he care, nor did he ask. Captain Aleksey knew what would happen if he poked his nose too much into things he wasn’t supposed to know.

“Permission granted Captain,” coms officer spoke after a low beep from his console.

Captain Aleksey nodded, “Take us in, thrusters only. We don’t want to give them a scare like last time,” he smiled under his breath.

“That was a mining base, captain,” His helm officer snickered.

Aleksey smiled, “I know. Doesn’t help that they reported us to the command. This is different. Military has different standards. Follow their instructions to the letter. If they say strip, we all do it.”

The ship swung to port as it slowly advanced toward the hidden base.

His second-in-command was sitting near him and spoke under his breath, “Aleksey, why do we have to go to this trip? And without any armaments. Telling us to strip all of our weapons is just asking for trouble. Pirates and mercs would take us out in a heartbeat.”

“Don’t ask, they won’t tell. You know, I want to know these things too, but I want to keep breathing as well. So I just do what I’m told,” Captain whispered back.

“What about the com lines? The could’ve easily transmitted a secret message. I mean it takes us 2 months to take a round trip with just a single data stick,” his second in command wondered.

Captain Aleksey sighed, “I know, however, I want to live. Asking unnecessary things from those above you will get you killed. If they thought I needed to know something they would tell me. Last man who thought he was smart, asked the same things you have. His head came clean off,” he whispered.

The man near him swallowed, “Why?”

“Who knows; I was told he attacked first. You have to know this; I never asked why. I only listen. That’s all. If they want they’ll share their plans and goals with you. If not, then too bad. But those in high command are fickle. Especially dealing with these types of things. Subterfuge is not my thing, I rather get my meager pay and fuck off to the bar for a drink,” the captain grumbled.

The captain and his first officer sat quietly. The noises of their bridge officers’ consoles beeping noisily around them. Captain Aleksey watched his scanners, mass of rock and rubble they’re leaving behind. Navigating around it, through it and over it. Eventually the base was in sight.

His second-in-command used the scanners while Captain Aleksey was focused on the giant structure that they were coming towards to. Second-in-command suddenly whistled attracting the attention of his captain, “Wow, this base just keeps going on and on,” he concluded.

“Better stop while you can. If they notice you sniffing they might not like it,” Captain warned him with a low growl.

His officer sent him a questioning gaze, “Why? All I’m doing is scanning.”

Their ship suddenly jolted to a halt, “What happened,” his second in command asked in panic.

The captain sighed holding his head in his hands, “You utter idiot. You’ve probably doomed us all.”

A crackling noise came over their intercoms, “Stop what you’re doing right now, you’ve 5 seconds to comply.”

The man shut his scanners off and held his shaking hands in the air. Not knowing if anyone can see him. The rest of the room followed his example, all of them equally shaken by what they had seen.

On their plasma screen, right where their ship was heading, there was mass of ships de-cloaking. Their menacing appearance left them breathless. All of them knew they were at razors edge; death was approaching on the other side.

“Their weapons are ready to fire,” officer manning the tactical station muttered, her hands shaking in the air, “They are hailing us,” she finished.

“Put them through,” Captain Aleksey muttered.

He glared at his second-in-command, “Better pray for all of us while you’re at it.”

The man held his hands together and was quickly muttering some ancient prayer. Beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

“I’m Captain Aleksey Androvojič on a mission for Her Majesty the Empress,” his voice almost broke, but he proudly held it together, strong.

The man appearing on the screen scrutinized the Captain in front of him, “I’ve noticed your scanners penetrating deeper than we allow, why?”

Captain swallowed hard, “My first officer is new, I’ve not told him about the normal protocol yet.”

The man’s eyebrow rose, “He rose to the position of Second-in-command without knowing these things? Send him over, only then you may proceed.”

“I’m sorry, sir. But can you repeat that?” The captain said, louder than intended.

“You’ve heard me. I’m about to blow you apart and vacuum your remains for study. I’ll repeat again, send that person over. You’re allowed to proceed,” The man slow and methodical whisper chilled him to the bone, quickly he ended the transmission.

The captain was visibly shaken, he punched a button on his armchair, “Security,” he said just above the whisper.

Few moments later two men in black appeared, “Take Mister Jones into custody and hand him over to whoever asks. Don’t argue,” his voice was shaking by the end.

His second in command watched wide eyed as two men took him by his arms and dragged him out the room.

“Captain, what is to happen to him,” A voice muttered.

He bit back the bile threatening to escape, “Some things are better left unsaid.”

He quickly composed himself and a second later as if nothing happened he spoke, “Computer, note; need a new second officer.”

The ship stopped in the dry dock, they waited for few minutes before they were addressed by the same voice, “Meet me by your airlock,” again the whisper of the ship’s coms was unnerving.

“Find out how he does that,” he whispered to the man next to him, as he left he handed him his data slate.

Captain Aleksey hurried as if his life had depended on it. He ran through corridors almost colliding with some of the staff that were coming of their respective shifts. The distance to the airlocks wasn’t that big, however, the voice made it clear they didn’t want any strange abnormality. Finally, he stopped by the air lock and was about to punch the buttons when he was flanked on both sides by two security guards.

“Fools,” he allowed himself a small smile.

Both of them had a job to do. They waited for this moment and weren’t about to waste it by neglecting their duties. He punched a button for release and the doors opened. He would’ve screamed if he could by the sight he had in front of him.

The men beside him now suddenly looked like they wanted to be anywhere else, but here. They would run if not for their rigorous training regimen. One of the guards, a younger trooper, turned to the side and vomited all the contents over the floor.

A tall, young looking, long-limbed man was flanked by two cyborg monstrosities. He watched the man retch and gave him a cold smile. The two things standing beside him, were a mere representation what a human should be. Should look like. Robotic parts were cruelly mashed into their flesh regardless of if it looked good or not. The flesh on their bodies attempted to reject the invasion of metal, yet it was fused with them. A painful fusing of bone, flesh and metal. It made them look horrifying. Blood caked over the metallic fragments, their head shook uncontrollably. Their mere presence sent shivers down their spine. Their haunting look would forever be singed in the people that would gaze upon them.

“Captain Aleksey, very nice to meet you,” his silky voice suddenly sent alarm bells flying.

“This is for you; I assume you know the protocol. If you and your men want to die quickly and painlessly just say so right now. Do you intend to open what’s on that stick?” he asked, his gaze penetrated deep into Aleksey’s soul.

Captain Aleksey swallowed, “No ... No.” He shook his head and repeated the answer few times to affirm it further.

“Good. We have ways of knowing if you have. If they find this has been opened they’ll know, I’ll know and you’ll probably end in one of my cells being used for ... experiments. Do you like?” His long arm presented one of his monstrosities.

The man was darkness incarnate, the captain wanted to run, but knew differently. He smiled, “Of course not. My second officer wasn’t informed properly. For this, I apologize,” His voice was visibly shivering.

The captain swallowed hard, “May I know what is to happen to my former first officer,” he shivered seeing the change in the man before him, Aleksey thought he was looking a viper in the eyes waiting to sink its venomous fangs in his flesh.

The gangly man suddenly had a cold smile on his lips, his voice suddenly sounding so gentle and inviting, “You’re welcome to watch if you want. All of your crew is, while what we do to those who disobey is punishment, we urge people seeing the punishment to prevent further incidents. We also think of it as research. More lovelies in the universe,” at the words he lovingly watched one of the cybernetic monstrosities.

Captain Aleksey visibly shivered, he held himself up by pure will of his mind, “I thank you for the invitation, but we must be leaving. This data stick is needed.”

The man looked sad for a second, but then said, “Understandable, our Empress demands results. Off you go,” the doors suddenly closed and Aleksey was left in pure awe.

He spoke into the air, “Captain to bridge,” he barked quickly.

“Yes captain,” one voice answered.

“Get us out of here as fast as possible, I don’t want to see this place ever again. If we’re hailed by them feign static or something. I don’t want to give that person a reason to call us back,” he breathed while walking briskly.

The man tried to break his restraints, but they were way too strong. The long-limbed man watched him from all sides, poking him with a strange instrument.

“A new subject for my tests, your motor response is adequate,” he smiled watching him jolt every time he was probed by his poking stick.

“Muscle reaction, adequate. We’ll see what secrets you’ll have for us,” he licked his lips.

There were numerous other doctors and researchers around studying various data that his instrument provided. One woman with weird goggles approached the man.

“Shall we administer numbing agents?” She asked while watching the tall man.

The man watched him with his dead eyes. A sudden creepy grin stretched across his face, officer Jones shivered.

“I need him conscious for the type of test I’m about to administer,” the man licked his lips, “This one needs to learn manners. I’ll make sure you don’t die.”

“Prepare for test number 42,” he barked.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME,” The man screamed, shaking in fear.

“Yes Doctor,” the room echoed.

The mad man took a scalpel and started cutting into the flesh of his newest victim. The screams filled the room. The more the subject screamed the more the blade would cut deeper. The Doctor, as if he knew, grazed, poked and sliced just where nerve endings would tell the body to feel the most pain. There were no questions, no talking between the guinea pig and the doctor. He didn’t have to know anything, for now. At this moment in time the man just enjoyed inflicting pain.

At one of his longer screams of agony, the young doctor allowed himself a moment to savor the terror and noise that was coming from the man on the table. The young doctor closed his eyes and just like a wine taster, took the fragrance of the subject’s fear. The rest of his cadre were immune to the wails of the man strapped on the table.

One by one he picked two more instruments. He waited for no one. The madman’s moves were fast and deliberate. He removed the skin from his muscles without much thought. His trained hands almost did it without any effort. The man never broke a sweat as he did it, he never lost any sleep doing what he loved to do.

Doctor Tristan Medicae wasn’t always a calculated madman, prone to torture and research.

He was born to an aristocratic family in early 4800’s. That made him just a little over 200 years old. Doctors and like-minded scientists tried to dissect Doctor Tristan for any answers for his odd longevity. After years and years of probing and testing Tristan was released, researchers were at odds end, unable to figure out anything. However, then 100-year-old man left the institute a changed being.

“Prepare the vat, I’ll be using his brain as well,” unemotionally he issued his demand, he was handed a syringe and he gently injected it into his skull.

After he injected the solution into the side of his newest test subject’s skull, he took another instrument, a laser saw. The hair was shaved off with a laser prior to the operation. Now, all the Doctor had to do was open the cranium and proceed with his test. The saw gently sent a beam of light and traced around the subject’s head leaving a gentle stream of blood. The red liquid was gently picked up by his assistant without a word from Tristan. The skin was peeled back using forceps. He turned and took another instrument, the skull of the man already lifted by his nurse.

In his hand Tristan held a long, thin instrument. He gently inserted it into the subject’s brain. After that he turned to a plasma screen and gently pressed on a button.

The doctor watched the instrument sent different impulses through his brain into his extremities, every now and then he would whisper something to himself.

The man’s legs and feet twitched. A moment later his arms and hands would turn and twitch. He spent a few minutes adjusting the power and pressed the button again. The instrument, with the adjusted power, sent the signal through the needle on top of the instrument and into the test subject’s brain. This time his hands clenched and released with perfectly timed movements.

“Good,” Doctor Tristan whispered, “Good. Now, onto the next problem.”

The doctor walked forward and stopped in front of Jones, he smiled the only way he knew how, a cold calculated smirk, “What’s your name?”

“Commander Jones Tully,” Jones answered as if reciting something from a piece of paper.

“Good,” The doctor smirked, “How old are you?”

“35,” the subject briefly answered.

Doctor Tristan nodded and waited for few moments, “Is there anything you’re hiding from the Imperium?”

“No,” Jones answered with a brief mechanical tone.

“Lovely,” Tristan smiled, “Have you ever done something that would endanger our glorious Imperium?”

The question was answered with a mechanical “No,” voice. The man’s eyes were lifeless. Jones was drooling excessively.

“Another great answer. Now onto our next stage. Are you ready?” Tristan asked.

Jones answered briefly, “Yes,” and his tormentor resumed his place above his open head.

Looking down, his brain was just normal. Nothing extraordinary.

“Increase pain threshold by 5%,” Tristan whispered.

The assistant closest to the medical console whispered, “Yes, doctor.”

Few fast strokes of her fingers and Jones’ body lifted a few inches of the table. His spasm at the sudden electrical release was instant, “Subject has good motor reflexes,” another assistant noted.

“Yes. Perfect, remove the brain,” Tristan simply said as he watched under a scope, Jones’ neurons were firing rapidly.

Jones couldn’t be sure what he heard was right, but the very next thing had him silently screaming. The pain seemed nothing like before. Every inch of his head was in terrific agony. He tried to vocalize, to ask for any form of help, but nothing. His lips weren’t moving.

Tristan’s assistant rolled a cart that had a glass vat closer to the subject’s head and the brain was quickly lowered into it, a metallic object was attached to the brain’s stem. Tristan pushed a button and a low beep of the object indicated it was working. He watched in silent horror as they wheeled away his brain, his brain, his brain...

“The stasis is working. The brain shows no loss of functionality.” One of the assistants read his data that was running across the screen. Others smiled approvingly.

“Great, now on to the next part. Let’s create a life,” Tristan whispered.

Another cart was rolled into the room. The items on it were of varying sizes, but all of them were of mechanical nature. Some were parts of limbs, others sections of skulls. The most menacing looking one was an odd orb that pulsated a shiny green light.

“We’re ready,” The assistant closest to Tristan whispered.

The work never ceased and Tristan looked thrilled at every second of it.

A month has passed. The interview with Vanessa Rovencroft was quite revealing. He learned quite a bit about the newly opened ‘School’ for students ready to serve the newly developing Human Imperium. As per Vanessa’s words those that attended this school were to form the future of the federation and the universe itself.

First few days were spent like at any new school for a new attendee. People were curious, but rarely approached him or anyone else. That said, there many rules regarding their behavior. Those who damaged the reputation of the school or it’s attendees, were mercilessly placed in stocks, whipped and then placed 40 days in solitary confinement. A harsh warning and reminded to anyone that would breach any form of etiquette at or outside the school. However, that could be anything. So far, Samael had cataloged 40 different deeds that could get him in serious trouble. The number changed every month or so.

The rest of the time he was studying. From math to advanced Toxicology or better yet study of poisons. There were other more lenient ‘sciences’ that weren’t demanded to be a part of attendees’ curriculum, but nevertheless, very few people took ‘Necromancy 101 – What does it mean?’. A funny little subject. It was the talk around the campus.

Among everything, he had stumbled on Terra’s radio recordings. Radio? Who uses radio? Whoever it was, he learned quite a lot from their broadcasts. Songs were very good to listen to. Rock, pop, oldies from time forgotten. Artists and musicians hailed long and wide. For days the signal would change its frequency, but Samael found it every time. The only problem presented was an Alpha Numerical code that he had to enter every time he wanted to listen to the darn station.

A friend bunking with him was a wizard with hacking tools and gave him few advices. The few times he talked to anyone and it produced results. Samael was thinking socializing was quite beneficial to his progress. Anyway, hacking tools he found online were working like a charm. Breaking the code in few minutes at most.

After listening to songs and their news reports he noticed a strange pattern among them. Words were short and without any meaning to them. A name “Martian Man” would always precede the short musical numbers.

He was fed up with the station and their breaks. Always on the ones he enjoyed listening. Few minutes at most and then a voice would recite a commercial break. Madness! He was just about to throw his receiver into the wall. However, something told him to take a step back. Look deeper into it. A stopwatch and several days later he was banging on his mentor’s doors.

Vanessa Rovencroft gladly took the mantle of mentoring the young man. So when she saw the man was somewhat sleep deprived and cranky, she at first thought the work was too much him. She wondered if her intuition had faltered. But after few hours of reading and listening to the massive and detailed report he managed to write, she was impressed. And curious.

“What made you look into it?” she asked gently.

Samael nervously scratched the back of his head, “There is this song. A good beat, I really like it, and after trying to listen to it for few times the station would cut it short. Made me mad and something just told me to look deeper into it. I can’t really explain.”

He has good intuition, She thought.

After several meetings with the higher-ups she was told to provide more evidence. Some believed that Samael stumbled upon a random thing that everyone gave too much credit to. Very few wanted to explore the possibility of someone actually sending covert messages. Why would they?

So she sent him on a mission. Something extremely rare in this case. Young attendees usually accumulated knowledge; first two years before they would be sent to missions of various degrees. Difficulty of the missions or tests would vary. Mentors would scrutinize over their students’ skills and then give them something worth their skill. Some found the young man received too much leniency from his mentor; who happens to be a principal of the same school. It’s safe to say people in high places wanted their sons and daughters to be picked instead.

Vanessa wanted nothing to do with them. They’re trying to use their position not to better people’s lives, but their own. She stopped any further talk about her prodigy. The rest could go fuck themselves if they like.

He was escorted by some of the teachers and given all the data he might need to see if this was truly something they needed to investigate.

As one of the higher-ups said, “If the lad fails, he fails. Hopefully he’ll learn from his mistakes and we keep our reputation intact.”

Samael watched the slate in his hand as his shuttle was leaving the orbit of Mars. The mission he was sent on was of clandestine nature. Sort of. There was nothing in the text that told him he had to stay hidden, among the leaves and branches, covered in dirt. Like in the movies. Even to him this was looking more and more as just “Stand still and watch” type of mission.

His mentor wanted to learn everything about recent riots back on Terra. There were traces of political and social agenda to assault and infiltrate the Empress’ Embassy and Her Holy Throne on Terra. The blasphemous act could hurt their place in the growing federation of man. But the question was who was behind it.

Samael doubted he was the only one doing this, so he thought about the motive of these protests. Why now?

The Church has had a big revamp few years back, looking more and more like a magician’s cult than anything. Something regarding their recent discovery on a certain planet. Who knows?

A politician’s ‘brave’ attempt to overthrow an evil oppressor? There has been nothing like that in the local news. The ones that were vocal, were adamant on peaceful talks and understanding. A mark of a sane men and women behind the helm, nothing less.

So what else is there? A hidden enemy? Samael shook his head.

Time to find their demands. Try to appease them. And if possible save the Empress’ reputation in doing so.

However, it wasn’t that easy to achieve. They wanted to remove any form of oppression from their world. And the word had a very wide definition in their eyes.

A brief layover on Mars Orbital Station, and they were off to ISS. Right above Terra’s orbit. He slept for few hours and when he woke up a wondrous sight was in front of him. He was unusually amazed that the 3000-year-old station was still floating in the orbit. Samael managed to visit the station only few times and all of them were very hush-hush, as his dad would tell him; nobody needed to know.

She hasn’t changed at all since the last time he was here. The massive structure was a remnant of old. Drifted in space like a ballerina. A beautiful dance at that.

The station looked way differently than the older model, but there were some non-essential components that were covered in glass, pictures that showed her in different stages. Preserved for future reference. Historical items were apparently in danger from radical activists, the glass protecting the ancient items from any form of vandalism.

They docked the ship and he took some time to stretch his legs. He stopped and focused on a strange man promoting something. A short stout guy was adamant at attracting everyone’s attention. Figuring something good was happening he approached.

“Come ‘ver ‘ere, we ‘ave plenty of new girls. They are waiting’ for ya,” the short guy was talking in a weird replica of an accent as mass of people walked pass. It was horrible.

Shops and merchandise were displayed for everyone to see. Some of the would be customers would stop stare and judge an item with a short look. Samael stopped by the man and he grabbed him by his wrist. Before he could react in any way the man spoke.