Being Left in the Dark

"So when were you going to tell me about Sanctuary being taken out?" Rolando and Trezlan were in the cargo bay of a ship Trezlan had "borrowed". They were going through boxes looking for something that Trezlan said was dangerous but Rolando suspected was more expensive and something Trezlan wanted. This was his life now being a basic thief with his dad, he was just more aware of the illegal acts than when he was a child.

"Never does never work for you?" Trezlan had also upped the honesty about being dishonest. It was comforting if only infuriating. Rolando found out several lies he had been told were flat out wrong, but Trezlan wanted the younger Lorentino to believe them if only to keep him "safe".

"I liked it better when you lied, now you are just flat out telling me you like for me not to know my life is in danger." Rolando found a crate of what appeared to be statues which appeared to be what his father was looking for.

"At least you can work while you yap. And what happened at sanctuary wasn't related to you, I looked into it, just a wacko military unit within your former organization that has decided magical people should be exterminated."

"I uhh what how did you even we've been searching dirty bullshit for days..."

"Well one of us actually pays attention to things. I was alerted to this group a while ago, and when they finally attacked I got another notice. See don't you feel better you didn't know?"

"No? This is terrible I have to do something." Rolando wanted to leave the hold but his father grabbed hold of him.

"You don't and you won't. You aren't exactly welcome back home Rolando and this is not your issue, the people you care about are dead, which welcome to my life over the last hundreds of years, but still, you're going to help me and that will be the end of this." Rolando wanted to protest, but just then Trezlan said some thing on the statues and they came to life, changing from being little statues that were wonky, into huge creatures that almost blocked the cargo bay.

"What did you do father?"

"These are our friends, they are going to help us, aren't you boys?" Rolando rolled his eyes, his life had gotten so much worse since he'd reconnected with his father. Just like he knew it would.

Seeing Is Too Late

There were bodies everywhere. Brubaker could just look in horror at the carnage at sanctuary. He was too late. He knew that from when he first arrived and could see the doors had been blown off. He had hoped he was halfway through the attack and people were able to be saved, but this was not the case. Everyone was dead. Magical and normal alike had been senselessly murdered. Brubaker had saved himself with the sight but no one else. He hit his knees among the carnage and just wept. That's where the Imperial Guard found him moments later. The young lieutenant who had responded to the calls for assistance didn't even know how to respond to the violence and destruction he saw.

"General?" The lieutenant brushed Brubakers hand and that set off another vision, this was of the young lieutenant being killed which happened half a second after Brubaker saw it. He saw the men in the black jackets had returned killing the first responders.

"General its so nice to see you." Brubaker didn't know at the time he'd just run into Colonel Keith, but he sensed that things had gotten worse for him even without the sight showing him the horrors that awaited. It was a curse the sight, and he was thankful when the shackles locked on and the visions were cut off, temporarily blinding him to what was coming.

I See Blood

Brubaker worried for a moment that the visions wouldn't come back. That he had been too long from seeing and now his sight was gone. But shortly after that initial panic'd thought the sight was on full blast. He saw everything, and everyone. It was confusing at first, decades had gone by and so his ability to parse the sight was limited at first. Too many images, too many outcomes. It was hard to see beyond the immediate area and everyones petty shitty futures. Someone about to die, someone about to have their heart broken, someone who should have decided to avoid the seafood vendor. It was the kind of maddening thing that drove Brubaker to block the sight in the first place.

Eventually things cleared, the vision settled on Sanctuary and what Brubaker saw did not instill confidence. There was blood, people screaming, and some kind of attack going on. He wanted to shut it off, but he couldn't. So he got to watch as his people were gunned down. At first he couldn't see who was doing it, just the black jackets, and then in a moment of clarity he could see Therod. She was leading the attack. He shut his eyes and fought back against the sight and it faded, but not all together the memory remained in the back of his mind like a bad dream he couldn't forget.

Brubaker had to act fast, his visions of the future weren't always correct, but they couldn't always be stopped either. He tried to contact someone at sanctuary, but no one was answering and so he had to move. Things had gotten out of hand. but there had to be a way to stop it, the vision couldn't be the reality he was going to live in, he was destined to not see this be reality even if it meant disclosing he had visions in the first place.

Substance 4 Doesn't Exist

Substance 4 was a myth. Or at least that's what the Imperial military claimed. It was one of those spook stories told among magical and anti magical alike. A mythical blue fluid that could lock away or free someones inherent magical ability. Why it was called substance 4, was up for debate. Some say there were three previous trials, or the 4 meant the compounds within. The legends here and there though put the substance firmly in the made up realm. Most people when you talk about it, laugh off the idea of the substance and ask if you're with the Imperial Military attempting to shake them down. That part was all part of the counter intelligence behind the real substance 4.

The imperial military in conjunction with a bunch of now long dead magical users had created the substance as a final solution to the dangerously magical. Something that could be injected that would suppress abilities until another solution was applied. How the substance came about is still shrouded in mystery to anyone in the Imperial military. That it just works was all that was important. It was hard to find, and harder to keep, since the idea of it falling in the wrong hands lead to self destruct devices and impossible personal codes.

Brubaker had only come by his substance 4 by dishonest means. The end result of his sight, knowing exactly where to find it before someone else knew where it was. His final vision finally letting him off the visions. He had hid the substance as a special shaving cream for years, no one in the imperial military ever clued in that he had one of their best kept secrets just hiding out in his toiletries. No one even knew Brubaker had magical ability, so complete was the substance 4 masking.

But now he'd been pushed into a corner, he knew something bad was going to happen, it wasn't sight, but it was a gut feeling, and he knew if he didn't see people would get hurt more than normal. And so he filled the vial with substance 4 and injected in his arm. He was in a shitty run down hotel in the poorer part of town, the kind of place that didn't ask questions or take names. He only had a bed and a barely functioning toilet. He felt like a drug user, and in a way he was. Except his drug of choice was the future, and like an addict he had just gotten back on the sauce.

Who In the What? Why?

Who was Colonel Keith? Brubaker was going insane trying to find this out. Ever since Therod seemingly walked off without even a word to anyone the only explanation he could get was Keith. It was maddening. Brubaker was a general, he ran a sanctuary, he should not have been running into smoke and mirrors bullshit looking up a colonel who most people were having trouble even remembering. Brubaker had spent all morning running down all his contacts to find out anything about this Keith guy and was coming up short.

For all Brubaker could discover was the man was named Keith and he was a Colonel. He may or may not wear a black jacket and he apparently has a nice smile. That was all anyone at sanctuary remembered about the man. What he wanted with Therod was probably not good, nor was his ability to escape all kind of surveillance or security. He literally just walked in and walked out, and no one knew differently.

It was enough to have Brubaker leave sanctuary all together and connect to his own investigative roots. Which meant tapping into magic again, which unlocked all kinds of bad things for the general, but it was all he had left, and so he told his secretary he was going on a bit of a vacation. Packed his bag, with a couple vials of substance 4 and left. He also made sure to bring a small arsenal with him, because he just knew that this Colonel Keith was bad news and sooner or later it'd come to bullets over words. He didn't even need the sight to see that coming.

Not Everyone Plays By the Same Rules

"Magic is evil, you know this, I know this, everyone knows this, but we all pretend regular people who can spew fire or suck the life out of others are normal, and that's bullshit they aren't." The Colonel had let Therod put on her uniform and gather her things before they left. Brubaker was no where to be found, but Therod figured Keith had worked it out with him or she wouldn't be allowed to leave as easily as she did. They were now in another facility that appeared abandoned, but like a lot of the dark sites of the Empire was just hiding that it was a real place. Something Therod found out during the Bio war, a lot of bases were off the books, to keep the Emperor in the dark about a lot of awful shit.

"Isn't sanctuary to protect the magical?"

"No its the emperors stupidity thinking if he placates the bastards they'll not murder our people, history has proven this wrong time and time again and yet he and his family keep trying." Keith stopped and put his hand on a scanner. The wall opened up and a new hub of activity was revealed behind it, everyone wore the black Jackets that Keith did. They all seemed to have a task or something to be doing, and so they paid the Keith and Therod no mind.

"So your group kills them?"

"We identify threats and eliminate them before they can become worse. Like say Lieutenant Lorentino, next time he emerges we'll make sure to deal with him, I hope this isn't an issue for you."

"I think it would be the man saved my life."

"Only to put it more in danger by the bio threat, and his connection to his father means he's as evil as they come, don't you see Therod, these people are evil creatures not good natured humans! But you'll see that soon enough." He waved at a person behind her and she felt a needle insert into her neck. She tried to fight the drug, but it was a very high dose sedative and she collapsed.

"Welcome to your reeducation Sergeant Therod." The voice droned overhead, and Therod felt she probably made a mistake coming with the Colonel.

Black Jackets, Bad News

The man in the jacket was a Colonel, Therod could see that at least. He was the tall lean sort they put on recruiting posters. Keith was all he went by, Therod didn't know if it was his first or last name, just he was Colonel Keith. When he introduced himself to Therod he was polite, with a disarming smile.

"Sergeant Ruth Therod correct?" She was working out again, training for the purpose of nothing, in her mind. She felt a burning embarassment for the casual nature of her dress, just a sports bra and gym shorts, so much for modesty.

"Correct Colonel." Her eye flashed his record, it was mostly unremarkable, she was surprised he had attained the rank of Colonel, and that he wore the jacket, most RIG military never worse unapproved apparel and the big heavy leather jacket was not standard issue anywhere.

"Keith, you can call me Keith, I'm sure you've seen my record, what you haven't seen is what's not there Sergeant what's between the lines as it were." He had a confident way of talking, the kind of voice and diction that made you want to follow anywhere.

"And what Keith is not in the record?"

"What I do for our emperor Sergeant." The one thing Therod could see that wasn't readily apparent with Keith is the intensity of hatred in his eyes. It was hidden behind the smile and the voice, but it was there clear as day to Therod, she saw it in the same way she saw her own eyes in the mirror.

"And what would that be?" Therod did not know Keith very well, but she already could see he was a man that was difficult to deal with.

"Kill some magical people, and I invite you to join me." She should have said no, on its face his proposal was ludicrous, but Therod was worried about her career and what she'd be doing, so she did the stupid thing and said yes and everything that followed was mostly the result of this one bad decision, almost like she was infected by being near a Lorentino and her decision making ability was hampered.

I'd Ask Why, but I Know

"I'm glad you decided to stick things out with me boy." Trezlan and Rolando were in the ruin of some kind of ancient species. Trezlan had found his way there somehow, and Rolando hadn't bothered to ask why, he just let it go. Just like everything else post them losing their dead man's ship he was just not bothering to care anymore. His career was over, and now he was stuck with the Trezlan, as whatever god's out there clearly intended.

"First I'm a man not a boy, secondly I didn't have a choice there is no way I'll be able to get back to the Imperial Military, especially now that I know you did something to me that means I'm a freaking necromancer too."

"Oh you just figured that out? Well after losing your mother to a bone disease I knew I had to do something for you, don't worry most people never check the runes on someones bones, let alone know what any of them mean." Rolando was appalled at how casually his father mentioned something as awful as runeing his bones. The thought of how his dad did that without him noticing was terrifying.

"You're a terrible father."

"You'll thank me later, or now, otherwise your bones would have already started the hardening that kills most shifters before their fortieth birthday." Rolando knew that was right, but he still hated his father for it anyway. He hated Trezlan for all the things the old man was right about, it was maddening to disagree and be proved wrong by his dad time and time again. It was partially what lead him away from the man in the first place, and now thanks to Trezlan he was stuck wit him, probably forever, which was a sad sad thing for Rolando to admit to if only to himself.

"All that shit aside, what are we even doing here?"

"Well you see what got me interested in this particular ruin..." And so the Lorentinos were back together much to their mutual dislike of each other. And all was wrong in the universe.

No Purpose

Therod was very tired. She had been part of the front line forces against the Bios. Her experience dealing with the creatures had put her from being sidelined guarding magic users, to front and center slugging it out with other soldiers. She liked the work, even though it was a losing battle and she saw more death in a month than she'd thought possible. But now the war was over, and she was back at Sanctuary. She was tired of being useful one minute and cast aside the next. She had asked of Lorentino, Brubaker told her he was gone, didn't know if he'd be coming back. The young hound Sergeant said the same when he swung by, saying he got separated from Rolando and didn't know where he was now.

Therod was still without work, still without purpose. She trained day and night, but for what she had no idea? She wasn't anti magical, she was a soldier, and only wound up at Sanctuary because of Rolando. Now he was gone and she was left standing around while Brubaker decided what to do with her. She figured she'd be back on Exploration detail soon enough. Banished to the ass end of the galaxy just like before.

So she trained until her body hurt and then rested. It was all she had left at this point, the training and the waiting. She wondered how long the waiting would last, she figured maybe a month. But it was only two days later the man in the black Jacket made everything go wrong. It made her long for her days in the exploration service.

Missing Is a Nice Way of Saying Left

"Gone sir, officially listed as missing." Brubaker was reporting to the head guardsman, it seemed strange to Brubaker everyone had military ranks but the head Guardsman, but some of the old ways still remained. The Lorentinos had both disappeared. There were reports of some huge ship slugging it out on the rim against the bios, and Trezlan was suspected, but there was no proof to any of it. All Brubaker knew was Rolando was no more for the time being.

"Disappointing, the emperor will not be pleased to hear of the young lieutenant."

"Understandably sir, he was weird, but I guess he's doing what we always figured he was doing."

"Well this at least confirms the Lorentinos were working with each other." Brubaker had his doubts about that, but command was convinced this was true, and so he just let it slide.

"Officially he's just listed as missing sir, he may return." The head guardsmen smiled.

"Sure Brubaker, and one day the Fire God will reward us for worship, we all like to believe in convenient lies." That was the end of the conversation. Command wrote off Lorentino and Brubaker couldn't blame them, he had been a risk his entire career and now after a huge incident he may or may not have been involved in he just disappeared. Brubaker just sighed to himself, he had hoped that Rolando would go on to have a prosperous career, be a useful member of the empire, but in the end he was a Lorentino, and that's just not something they ever did. Brubaker turned off his monitors and sat by himself in the dark, he wanted to be alone for a time. In the morning he'd do the daily brief, but for now he just wanted to relax and forget the whole damn thing.

I Believe That's My Victory

"I thought you were concerned about direct involvement." The gods were playing their game again, this time in the Fire God's domain, a white marbled empty cafe in the midst of a sea of flame. Hanlong had his long hair and the Fire god still was dressed modestly even in her own domain.

"I did not have direct involvement. I merely leant my vessel and crew to Trezlan Lorentino." The fire god smiled.

"Sure and you didn't at all influence events in the end with said vessel when it looked to be overtaken." Hanlon moved his cards and rotated some of the ones from his false deck to his open one.

"I did not, other than providing the source of the power, that was all Trezlan."

"Right I'm sure one necromancer could wipe out an entire species of people with a simple ritual." The Fire god said it in jest, but she was actually curious if it was true.

"Ordinarily no, creatures are at their very nature too different to have a spell kill all of them at once, but the bio's main feature was making things like themselves, and so all Trezlan had to do was effectively 'curse their generation' and buoyed by my ships inherent focal point of death magic it expanded and wiped them out. Genius really wish I'd thought to do it, saved myself the trouble of being so obvious in my intention."

"Well now I'm more terrified than ever I didn't wipe out the Lorentino when I had a chance."

"It's not like we can't kill him later if he proves a bother." The Fire god placed both of her decks on the table in victory.

"Can we? I honestly wonder at times, looks like I win again."

"You usually do, I think you're better at these games than you let on." Hanlon left and the Fire God just smiled to herself. She was better than she lets on, but the death god still managed to hold his own as he had for all the years. Enough so the Fire God had to start to wonder if he's better at playing games than he let on as well.

Gone They're All Gone

"What do you mean empty?" Morley's team on the large construct were coming up with nothing. His scans had shown the same thing, but he didn't want to believe that. He needed to not believe that. How could all of the bio creatures been dead? It was impossible.

"Lot of blood and various metallic bits, but as far as living creatures nothing." Morley had sent the team over fully expecting to lose them, and here they were being able to walk through the main lair of the creatures with little effort. He didn't know how Trezlan had done it. They had detected a pulse of energy that swept the system eminating from Trezlan's ship. For a brief moment Morley hoped that was some kind of dying gasp of Trezlan. One last attempt to save himself from annihilation. And apparently it was and it had been radically successful. Which of course made Morley suspicious it wasn't Lorentino at all, but the damnable death god. He'd have asked Trezlan what he did himself, but of course soon after the pulse fired Trezlan's ship disappeared.

"Come back exploratory team, plant your charges and leave."

"Sir there is valuable..."

"Did I stutter in my command."

"No sir you did not." Morley was done with the exercise. His anger at the Death god paramount. There were supposed to be rules, and yet again Hanlon intervened to save Lorentino. It solified his nerve he had to find a way to kill the god and take its place. If only for his own survival among other things. But he at least knew the god was not infallible prior to saving Trezlan his ship was almost destroyed by the bios, so that was at least something. He almost got Trezlan. Almost, never time would be better. Hanlon sat back on the throne and breathed an almost comforting metallic sigh. Almost.

Meant To Be

"I knew we'd go out together dad, I just assumed it would be because of something stupid you did, not something someone did to you." Trezlan and Rolando were holed up in the captain's quarters. Rolando had some weapons out, Trezlan was busy drawing all kinds of sigils and working out a ritual of some kind, he kept counting on his fingers in a way that seemed threatening.

"We're not dying stop that stupid talk, just buy me some time." Rolando had never known his father to be an optimist, but he also never knew the elder Lorentino do ever be a defeatist either. Trezlan seemed to exist in that level of cynicism that said "things will get screwed up, by the grace of the gods I'll live." Rolando was not feeling the optimism.

"Dad I just want you to know I love you even if I've said mean things to you and said I hoped you'd end up in jail."

"Touching boy, but please stop with this we're going to die talk, and again secure the door, like thirty more seconds." There was a lot of thumping against the door, the bio's had dealt with the honored dead already, they had been able to give Trezlan and Rolando at least an hour.

"I just wanted you to kno..." The door burst open and Rolando killed the first creatures with gun fire, which slowed the rest down for a half second before they rushed in, Rolando prepared to grab his father and shift somewhere else when the creatures stopped stuck in some kind of ritual. Trezlan walked forward, Rolando tried to stop him, but the creatures did him no harm. They were all stopped. The corridor beyond the room was full of ugly bio's just stuck dead in their tracks. Trezlan waved his hand and threw blood onto the first one and there was a roar that seemed to come from the ship and everything beyond it. And in an instant the creatures exploded in a gush of blood, their splattered remains casking both Lorentinos.

"What was it that you wanted me to know?" Trezlan was wiping his face off of blood with a towel.

"That you're some kind of deranged demi god who terrifies me."

"Oh well I'm glad you're catching up son."

Morley'd

"We can't take this many hits Sir." Trezlan had been Morley'd again. He knew that slimy bastard would screw him, he just didn't know he would do it so obviously. Trezlan had only been in system for a minute when Morley's fleet showed up. He figured the two of them would team up against the bios, but no Morley's ship emitted some signal that sent all the damned bios after Trezlan. He figured it would be enough to wipe them all out and then of course annihilate Morley out of principal. But there were too many, so many Bios. Their ships were like a bunch of stinging flies. Even Hanlon's spooky death ship could not hold up to their assault. Trezlan saw all kinds of alarm and warning klaxon's firing across the board, every second they remained they risked annihilation. Still it pissed Trezlan off it had come to this he was hesitant to just let Morley win.

"Get us out of here Gods damn Morley." The space cut engine's kicked up, and then died. The helmsman tried several times and each time it wouldn't initiate.

"It's not working sir, what do we do?"

"Well for the rest of you you'll just go back to non existence, for Rolando and myself shit's about to get real bad real fast." It wasn't much of an inspirational statement, but Trezlan was fresh out of inspiration.

So That's Why It was a Losing Battle

Four hundred separate encounters. Four hundred victories, and still the bio threat continued. It seemed to Trezlan despite using the awful weapons at his disposal it didn't matter how he blased the creatures they'd just keep coming, and they were getting smarter. Each encounter the damnable creatures adjusted to his tactics and so he had to rely more and more on Hanlon's exalted dead's tactical expertise to win the battles

So far all of that had been enough, but the damned bio's were getting smarter and smarter. Setting up ambush's and attempting to board the ship multiple times. Thankfully Hanlon's creepy death properties had kept the creatures from having any kind of chance, but Trezlan figured that could not last forever. Nor could he expect his groups expertise to continue. He had no idea how Morley was doing, but he assumed he was running into the same problem. That at least brought a smile to Trezlan's face.

He was kind of surprised he hadn't run into imperial military or corporate fleets aside from Morley's, but he figured they had pulled back to their more developed planets and were setting up a blockade. Leaving the outer worlds to Trezlan playing the most aggravating game of smash an infection he'd ever been involved with. He figured there had to be some kind of central intelligence somewhere. He just had to get there and kill the damned thing. Or talk with it, or whatever.

Rolando had an idea on where it could be based on where he originally encountered the creatures, but unfortunately he wasn't much for star navigation, and the deeper they went into the Rim, the more infested and dangerous with Bio's it became. So either they would find the bio group, or kill them all on the way to finding it. Either way Trezlan liked the plan better than what they had going on anyway.

Unfortunately for Trezlan, Morley also had the exact same idea, and both men were on another collision course this time a lot nastier than the first one.

And Now You Know

Trezlan and Morley were seated across from each other. Though it was in a holographic display in both ships, the hatred was palpable. Rolando could tell from his father and Morley's demeanor neither man even pretended to like the other. Morley did not appear to have a second in his room wherever it was on whichever ship his signal was coming from.

"Glad to see the Death God has gotten involved in this little dispute." Morley didn't have time to play games with Lorentino, he needed to stop the bios, not dick around with an insect like Trezlan Lorentino.

"He's not directly involved, I'm just borrowing his ship and resources."

"Right so he's not personally leading it, but he has his number one disciple out front." Rolando was continually surprised at how all the bullshit about his father was seemingly true. He always just suspected the old man was a huge liar. And yet here people were saying he was the real deal which was terrifying. His father's file alledged a lot of terrible awful things, and if all of them were true well Trezlan was truly an awful awful person.

"Morley lets cut the shit shall we, these things are your problem, and you're claiming to help so you can try and avoid the shit storm that will fall on your company when you're horrific science experiment come to light with the general public." Morley could barely contain his rage at Trezlan, mostly because he was right, but also Lorentino's perfect health just infuriated his failing body.

"And?"

"And I just want you to know that I will not go along with whatever bullshit you've got cooked up, I'm going to kill those things my way and you can do it your way, and neither the two of us shall meet." Trezlan turned off the holo communication device.

"What did that accomplish father?" Rolando was perplexed by the hostility, but Imperial government had little on Morley.

"Just wanted Morley to know I still hate him, now come on we have a galaxy to save." Rolando followed his father and they made their way to the bridge and into history.

****

"Damned idiot Lorentino." Morley was fuming, not only would Trezlan be a thorn in his side, with his support by the Death God he knew Trezlan's inability to be afflicted by the Rot was because of that god. It was enough to make him spit were he still capable. Still maybe one of those bio's would get lucky and kill him for Morley, they were after all designed to kill Trezlan in the first place.

Never Enough Time for the What's

"I don't even know where to begin." The ship was massive, made out of some kind of metal Rolando had never seen, and staffed by a dizzying array of people dressed in clothing of all walks of life. How his father had acquired it, what he planned on doing with it, and just what? Were constantly on Rolando's mind. He knew Trezlan was dangerous, he had no idea he had the kind of resources on display.

"Thank you is a start son." Even when Trezlan was correct he was still a dick.

"You do realize my career is..."

"Effectively over, yes you keep telling me this even when it wouldn't be the worst thing ever, and its not like after we save the galaxy they'll punish you because you worked with your supremely competent father and his crew of undead mercenaries." The two made the bridge and a man in a uniform from at least three hundred years earlier (according to history that Rolando had studied) saluted Trezlan.

"Sir the bio's space force has been annihilated."

"Excellent, not a problem I assume?"

"No sir, the destabilizing weaponry worked as advertised."

"Of course it did, there's a reason it was banned in the first place, but desperate times, and its not like anyone alive cares." Rolando was a bit appaled, not only was his father in charge of a warship they were using banned weapons? He knew his career was most definitely over.

"Sir we have another cut opening up near by."

"Bios?"

"Negative corporate identifier, Morlatech ships, a lot of them." Trezlan frowned, he was under orders to destroy the bios and not take the ship on any kind of vengeance mission against Morley. Which unfortunately meant not killing Morley even if he showed up.

"Unidentified ship, identify yourself or be destroyed." Morlatech's officers order made Trezlan laugh, he didn't know much about the ship Hanlon had given him, but he knew that even though Morley had sent fifteen ships he doubted they could destroy his.

"This is Trezlan Lorentino of the Profit Margin, I'm well aware of who you assholes are, so you might want to state your business before we destroy you." Trezlan felt quite smug about that, it was nice to be in power if only for a little bit. The morlatech ships did not send a signal back, most likely conferring among themselves. Eventually a signal was sent back.

"This is Morley, nice to see you decided to do Trezlan, we have come to help."

It's Like Everything I Never Wanted

The bios had given up taking the port, and with it securing the planet. They had already signaled the fleet to leave behind a token force and move on. Their calculations could not account for Rolando's sporadic shift movements, and despite repeatedly sending overwhelming forces his way he destroyed them. The creatures logged what they had learned and added it to their previous encounter with this life form. Space cut drives were initiated and then halted, a large ship appeared behind the bio force and in one opening salvo annihilated them. Their last message to the collective was one of warning "The dark is coming."

****

Death. Death was everywhere. Rolando looked among the creatures, he'd stabbed, shot, impaled, and ripped apart with his bare hands. They were scattered around the remnant of the town center. He had shifted so much, so fast, he was twitching almost uncontrollably. For a moment he'd worried he'd just gone and given in to the corruption and he was lost to the blood disease. But he was in control what little that mattered. His equipment had fallen apart, too many shifts had destroyed the buckles on his armor and pants, he was down to his under ware holding a knife covered in the black blood of his enemies and an empty pistol.

They had stopped coming, Rolando did not know why. One moment he was surrounded and everyone around him was dying or becoming the biomechanicals. And then he had murdered them all. Just giving in to the death. He fully expected to become corrupted, but instead he just felt invigorated. He didn't even notice the drop ship land behind him or the men in black that exited it. He almost turned around and killed the first one until his father's voice shook him out of it.

"Rolando, my god son what have you done?" Trezlan's voice was more in awe than fear.

"I took care of things, who are these men, what in the gods name are you doing here?"

"I'm here to fix things boy, get in the ship we've got work to do."

"Yes this seems like a great idea father, just super." Rolando got into the ship all the same, He didn't know Kyriac and his group were still alive, nor did they know he was still alive. But at least he was off the planet, even if it was to nebulously "fix" things with his father. Yet again the Lorentino's were back together like the universe hated him.

I Do Not Grovel

"And so I need your help." Trezlan looked at Hanlon with disdain. He was currently in the middle of six conversations about arming several different groups all across the galaxy, and here comes Hanlon acting like Trezlan should drop all things to help him. Sure Trezlan's entire existence and arms business was tied up in Hanlon, but the profits were not going to make themselves!

"I feel like we've had these conversations in the past, except I didn't know you were the death god before, and now that I do..."

"I can't directly interfere you ingrate, and recall I've done several things for you over these hundreds of years including allowing you to live." Hanlon had long hair, it was disturbing to Trezlan. He couldn't put his finger on why, but it did.

"So you want me to do what to destroy a mechanical race of creatures that threatens to overwhelm the galaxy?" Trezlan was beyond skeptical, though his previous efforts at saving the galaxy had been equally ridiculous.

"Sooner rather than later, they are getting stronger by the day."

"Sure Hanlon and how will I accomplish this fact? I mean I'm good, but I'm not a god like you are."

"Oh you sell yourself short Trezlan, but don't worry I've seen fit to arrange for some folks to help you, you'll know them when they get here."

"Delightfully vague, still haven't said yes."

"If you are expecting me to beg for your help you'll find yourself wanting, but do this and you'll be rewarded in the usual way." Hanlon went to leave and Trezlan didn't stop him.

"Money?"

"Continued existence." And just like that the God was gone, Trezlan sighed a bit, though he would be lying to himself if he hadn't looked into stopping the mechanical creature threat. He had a couple ideas, most of them magical and dangerous, but what wasn't with him. It wasn't living if he wasn't almost about to blow himself up in a horrific way.

There Are Rules, Or Not

They were seated across from each other. The Fire God without her pomp, just wearing a simple business suit her hair short. Hanlon had on a more elaborate suit, and he now wore his hair long and black. The Fire God didn't care for his long hair, which is probably why he had it like that. They were playing a card game, the rules were never said aloud and they changed all the time. It was the kind of game gods loved to play because it meant to an outside observer there was no form or function. Not like in the place they were in anyone was around, but the sentiment remained.

The place was a swirling darkness. One of Hanlon's creations. Just an endless black cloud. The Fire God found it a little cliche for the death god. But Hanlon was all about Cliches. Especially since he re-arose to prominence all those hundreds of years prior. She still wasn't sure how he managed to do it, especially with a smattering of necromancers and death magic still thought of as something you never ever do. Still she had to respect him for managing it with all the restrictions, even if it infuriated her.

"It's your turn." Hanlon was showing all the cards in his visible hand, but according to the rules they were playing on now he had another true hand elsewhere.

"Are we doing turns today?" Her answer was another chance to change the rules.

"Sure, I like turns." Hanlon smiled back, though there was no warmth to it.

"Do you enjoy all the death being caused right now?" The creatures Morley had created were causing quite a ruckus. The Fire God looked on them with disgust, but the conflict was helping her every day.

"No, that bastard Morley causes me so much turmoil everyday. His creatures don't even kill things most of the time, just convert them. So much suffering, none of it ending. If not for our arrangement I would have already destroyed their metallic asses already." The Fire God smiled.

"So kind of you to claim to honor our arrangement when I know for a fact you don't honor anything."

"It is the rules of the game."

"Which is to say there are no rules, but still those creatures do irk me so. And I worry they will destroy the people who offer me worship."

"To be a god ruling nothing would be to be nothing."

"So it has been, perhaps I'll look into their destruction, or not, that is what it is to see all things." The fire god played her hand and Hanlon smiled and played his, he had the winning hand.

"Looks like you lose today."

"Did I Hanlon? Or did I win and I just haven't found the rule to say it yet."

"Sure." The Fire God left and the table disappeared with the cards. Hanlon smiled to himself, he would need to contact Trezlan, it always came back to that old necromancer when he needed something done.

Mostly Culpable

"Mostly sir." Morley was looking at the incursion of the biomechanicals displayed across the galaxy. They had hit corporate and RiG space evenly so far the damnable creatures. He didn't even have a fail safe against them, something he would have to discuss with the R&D division should everyone live through the crisis.

"And they can be traced back to us?"

"The young Lieutenant's report mentioned us specifically with these creatures."

"Gods damn it." Morley felt all the hundreds of years old right then. This was a crisis for his organization and it was mainly of their own making. He couldn't even blame Lorentino for it as much as he wanted to.

"Sir I think the best thing is for us to launch a massive counter offensive with our bots. We could save the galaxy."

"Or we could lose our entire force in one fell swoop," Morley held up his hand before the young man could respond, "Fine fine do it, better to save everyone and then get blamed than the idiots some how figure out how to kill the creatures and then come for us."

"You mad the right decision sir."

"I made the only decision, now get out of my sight as I watch my empire potentially implode." The young man didn't wait around Morley's temper was legendary among the corporation. In fact he only got the job after his last assistant was impaled by Morley after a disagreement. Morley just sat on his throne and watched the battle number rattle off and news casts talk about the doom of humanity, it would almost have made him laugh at one point. Now all he could do is hope, and that was the worst emotion in the world for him.