Forevermore Unto the Void

The War for Aetherius (part 3: Slaughter)

1

Three Minutes to Midnight

Aeneas, currently appearing as a male Syndicate captain of advanced years and hard eyes, looked at the barren and desolate world of Spartos 4 with a cold, calculated eye, scanning every inch of the world that he could see from the small viewing portal in the Syndicate drop ship that escorted him to the small command post at the world's north pole. According to all of the Syndicate records, he was here to take command of the outpost and organise the defenders against the possibility of an Argus raid. According to a single back-channel communique from Archimedes, he was the Argus raid.

The shuttle descended slowly through the thin air, edges of the craft catching fire as they sliced through the air, the craft bouncing with the turbulence wind and gravity brought to it. Through the pandaemonium of the landing, Aeneas remained calm and never took his eyes off of the small base that was his target. While, from the air, 'small' seemed something of a misnomer, as the base dwarfed most first settlements, resembling a sprawling tent city surrounding a primary commercial hub of silicon and aluminium minarets ringing a central building, it was small by Syndicate standards, given that a standard-sized base resembled a city unto itself. As the base grew larger in the viewport, Aeneas began to see more and more useful details: the blind spots in the wall's defenses, the entrances to the primary vault, the command post's location, the infirmary, the spaceport, and, most importantly, the primary power station.

As the landing craft neared the landing ramp in the spaceport, Aeneas straightened out his dress uniform as he knew was becoming of a high-ranking Syndicate official, making sure the collar, cuffs, and shirttails were all in order before he considered disembarking the craft. The landing was remarkably smooth, doing little more than causing ripples in the barely-touched scotch in Aeneas' right hand. Taking one last sip from the crystal glass, Aeneas stood from his leather seat, and, smoothing out the front of his shirt and placing the small cap on his head, walked towards the landing ramp as it lowered out onto the runway, a desolate segment of pavement empty save two escorts to serve as an honour guard.

Aeneas walked from the landing craft, acknowledging the guards as he walked down the gangplank, moving coldly and imperiously along the stretch of runway that led to the command post at the centre of the base. No one said anything on the walk over to the command centre, Aeneas not asking any questions and the escorts not being in a position to ask questions of who he said he was.

When the small entourage arrived at the command post, the two members of the honour guard broke away, leaving Aeneas alone at the front of the small spire that loomed over the rest of the base. Aeneas did not pause before keying open the front door with the access code the Syndicate had given him prior to leaving for the system. The door slid upwards, revealing a cool, clinical hall full of officers sitting around and enjoying the perks of their station: real meat, grain spirits, gambling, and cold water.

The group of officers looked up from their various pastimes when the door opened to reveal the harsh figure that bore the name, rank, and face of the man assigned to organise the defenses of the world.

"Welcome to your new home, Captain Arthur," one of the officers greeted, raising a glass towards the man. "I hope you won't-"

Aeneas raised a hand to silence the man and addressed the group as a whole "There's a war going on right now and you're all sitting around drinking and eating? This base can barely keep rats out; how do you hope to hold off an Argus attack?"

"They would never send their entire force to attack us," another of the officers replied. "As important as this world is, it's still just one world, and we have the numbers to-"

"If numbers meant everything, then we wouldn't have just been forced out of the Other Realms," Aeneas snapped. "You all have five days, Terran standard, to get this base in shape before I start executing you so I have the power to do it all myself."