Life With Ares

Old Bastards

It'd been almost twelve hours since the black, hot, and bitter taste of coffee touched my tongue. Too long. I got out of bed and fixed the blankets and sheets all nice and headed for the common area once I cleared my head a little bit more. I sat at our large dining table with a large viewing port, and by viewing port, I meant the cameras fixated on the side of ship, feeding onto a holographic screen. Infinite blackness stretched before me accompanied by the faint light of distant stars. To the naked eye, it was invisible, we were in orbit around a planet. A rogue planet, spiraling through the galaxy with no star to call mother. No heat, no light. The icy behemoth, Jotun hung here in space with no star to warm it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I heard a voice suddenly from behind me. I turned to see Yamato, captain of the Machina. In his cyborg hands was also a cup of coffee. Yamato used to be contracted by UPIAF as a independent explorer,  one day he and his crew suffered a hard landing on an unknown planet. Yamato doesn't like to talk much about it. He was hospitalized with near fatal injuries and lived off of machines from the heart down,  until one day in his hospital bed, he was approached by a member of the Augmented Combine. A group of cyborg people who advocate to give new life to the disabled and young via cybernetics. Ever since, Yamato had been delivering cybernetics to hospitals across the galaxy. 

"What, Jotun? You can't even see it." I said, sipping my coffee.

"No, Mars. Isn't it beautiful that even here, in the void, depraved of any natural light, life refused to lose this battle?"

"Huh? I guess." I shrugged.

"The constant surface temperature of Jotun is negative four hundred degrees. So what did the single celled organisms that would one day be the Jotunites do? Evolved without it. Their bodies are almost completely ice. It's amazing, isn't it?" Yamato smiled and patted me on the shoulder.

"Kinda like you Yamato. Life refused to lose with you. The Augmented Combine found you and now look at you. You're stronger than before." I smirked and shrugged to him.

"Precisely. Maybe that should be the Combine's motto. Life refuses to lose." He laughed a bit.

"So, Yamato, where are we going next?" I asked.

"Killgorath." He said with a tired sigh.

"Killgorath, in the Novus system? The UPIAF prison planet?"

"Precisely, Mars." He smirked.

"Why?"

"It's the closest star system with a sun. Jotun is beautiful and all that jazz I just went on about, but I need some sun. Besides, Killgorath isn't a prison planet, it's just where the giant prison happens to be." Yamato-12 quoted the UPIAF's defense of dedicating an entire planet to a prison. It's not like it mattered. Killgorath was about the size of Mercury and just as barren. They weren't losing anything by using this planet as a prison.

"Incoming Transmission." The ship's AI, spoke over the PA system.

"Really? From who?"

"UPIN."

"United Planet's Interstellar Navy? What the hell..." Yamato muttered. "Alright. Throw 'em on the screen." He said, suddenly sitting erect. I did the same. The viewing port in front of us suddenly had a hologram projected over it. The screen buzzed with static for a minute before displaying the image. On screen flashed the four pointed white star of UPIAF, then stood a high ranking UPIN official. I recognized him from a trading card game I played as a kid, Heroes of UPIAF, a subtle recruitment method made to make UPIAF look great and awesome. It worked too. I still had all my cards. Admiral Luro Keers, the Trengian captain of the UPIN Law. His four arms were folded behind his back, standing in a very proud manner. His grey hardened exoskeleton jutted from his chin, resembling a human beard, and his four red eyes were fixated on Yamato.

"Yamato-- Or should I say Yamato-12."

A smirk came across Yamato's face.

"Admiral Luro Keers." He said in a similar fashion. It seemed these two knew each other, had a history.

"Heard you're heading to Killgorath." The Admiral stated.

"Weird how on Jotun, a planet with minimal UPIAF presence you can hear about where I'm heading." Yamato crossed his arms and shook his head a bit.

"The UPIAF likes to keep tabs on capable operators, my friend." Luro smirked. Luro liked to be a step ahead of the game, as far as I could tell.

"The UPIAF is in need of 'Capable Operators' now?" The cyborg chuckled.

"When you get to Killgorath, stop in by the Law. A couple of old bastards can sit down and have a talk." He smirked.

"We'll see, Admiral." Yamato smirked and the transmission faded to the dark background.

"You know Admiral Luro Keers? That's awesome." I exclaimed.

"Luro's a good guy. He was my commander when I served with UPIAF." The cyborg leaned back in his chair, taking another drink of coffee, "Sounds like he wants me to work for him again." He said quietly.

"What about the Augmented Combine? Don't you work for them?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but I can still operate independently. So long as they approve it. And the Augmented Combine is an ally of UPIAF. Should be fine." He got up and walked away, suddenly too, shortwording me. Perhaps talking to the Admiral awakened some memories he didn't like.

I remained in the commons by myself, drumming my fingers on the table and feeling generally in a better mood.

"Mars Monroe." I heard the familiar voice of a Jittanian warrior. I turned just in time to see a book whirring through the air towards my face. Like an instinct, I caught it with my powers. A vibrant red barrier appeared around the book like a skin as it hung suspended in midair. I let it drop to the floor as my heart fell back into normal rythym.

"Shiara!" I scowled her and sighed, "I thought we were friends." I mimicked her words from earlier.

"I just wanted to see your powers. Nice to know you're sharp as ever. We might need it one day."

"No. I'm not using my powers for combat. Besides, you're the hired gun." I turned away from her and back to the void in the window. I could hear her walking towards me. It was time to get revenge. I heard her head hit against the vibrant red barrier I conjured right in front of her.

"Mars!" She cried. I turned around and stood up, facing her. Her face was contorted into an angry glare. She quickly moved around the barrier and lunged at me with arms outstretched and only banged against another barrier as my other faded.

"What's the matter, Shiara?" I teased.

"This isn't funny." She pounded against it with her fist. Her force only rippled throughout. I smiled and laughed and Shiara and I continued this game for a few more minutes until we were both laughing. That's when I heard the voice in my head.

"Give her a taste of your real power. That's what she wants, right?" I could feel Ares' smirk. I promptly stopped and loss all sense of joy, faking laughter as Shiara finally tackled and slugged me in the chest. I went back to my room shortly after to argue with Ares.