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The Old Gods

Chapter I

"Have you ever seen Earth before?" Rem asked Teth. He leaned back in his chair and flicked his finger which brought up a holo of the planet. It looked solid, as if there was an actual green and blue rock with small swirling clouds hovering centimeters above the surface of the wooden desk. "Home, as many would call it."

"No, sir." Teth sat rigidly in his seat. Not because he was nervous, but because he was old. His joints, his back, not much could move without pain, so he moved as little as possible.

The younger man chuckled. "Don't have to call me sir. I know it's a formality, but I feel that our two companies have moved beyond that. Especially after... well you know."

Teth looked down at his hands. They looked just as old as the rest of him. Wrinkled with liver spots appearing. He could have easily afforded rejuvenation treatments. The government heavily subsidizes those since a older, but youthful population could work for longer. Teth didn't like the idea of using the handouts just to be forced to work longer. Plus, being a ranger and surviving for decades allowed him to create quite the cash cow.

When Rem saw that Teth wasn't going to say anything, he continued. "Of course we aren't here to talk about the tragedy that befell Marty."

Teth looked up at the mention of his friend who, on what should have been a routine mission to an uncharted system for mineral viability scans, disappeared nearly two years ago. There had been no investigation. Only a short memorial since his disappearance was a sign that he had run into one space's countless dangers and perished. It was too dangerous to send more lives into the void. Teth, of course had fought to allow him to go and look, but every request was denied. The thought of commandeering a ship had come to mind, but he couldn't get himself to risk it. Not even for Marty.

"Then why did you call me here?" Teth asked, his eyes flickering between the image of the home planet he never knew and the man that he had, many times before, blamed for what happened to Marty. "You didn't go through proper channels to request me for a mission. You sent a message straight to me. So I know this isn't official."

"It's not." Rem leaned forward, straightening himself in his seat and reached for a pair of crystal glasses. He poured some rum he kept from a matching container and offered one to the ranger.

Teth took the glass, but did not drink from it. "So? You want an off the books run or something?" Sometimes a company believed that an area in high risk space where there had been a supernova or was close to a black hole, was worth spending hefty fines and fees to hire someone to explore it. The rangers would never officially sanction one of their pilots to take such a job, but didn't forbid individuals from pursuing then either.

"You can call it that." Rem sipped on his drink. He didn't like the taste of most alcohol, but his sister said that simply having it and occasionally drinking it had a positive image and so he shared drinks with patrons.

"I'm not exactly the best person for that kind of work. I haven't exactly flown in some time. Mostly an aging fossil that takes care of paperwork now." Teth did miss the work though. The thrill of flying into parts of space the literally no human had ever gone to before and to be able to put his own name into the official logs as it's discoverer. It was something that he longed for again and that was the reason he accepted Rem'a call. He was merely playing hard to get at the moment just to be an old fart.

"No," Rem set down his not even half finished drink. "But, you are the one most likely to accept the job."

"Oh?"

Teth continued. "After Marty disappeared, the section of space he was sent to was marked high risk, but I have reason to believe that it isn't so high risk."

It hurt to move suddenly, but Teth leaned in, placing his hands on the arms of his seat to listen.

"One of my satellites meant to look for potential asteroids to mine in the system A-3245-B, has noticed something, or rather the lack of something." Teth cleared the floating holo of Earth with a swipe of his hand and brought up images of empty space in visible light, IV, X-ray, all the spectrums."

"What's this?" Teth asked. He could read the images. Being a ranger demanded that he know to read anything that could indicate dangers in space, but the images were very nominal. There was some spike in radiation, but nothing that a properly shielded ship couldn't handle. It was viable.

"This is the part of space that Marty flew into." Rem flicked through more scans. "I had other satellites turn and look as well and they all showed the same thing. No signs of danger and no indication that anything would happen. All evidence says that it's safe to fly there."

"So you want me to do that?" Teth asked, already getting for too excited for his blood sugar levels.

"I want you to pilot one of my ships and be a liaison to an entire expedition."

Teth was beyond ecstatic, but the whole idea didn't sit right with him. Rem was a business man and he had looked type to gain other than some publicity for such a stunt and Rem Corp was too large to care about publicity.

"What do you get out of this?" Teth asked. "Never took you to be a humanitarian. I've seen the conditions on some of your mining worlds."

"As much as I know that Marty despised me, I had to admire him. He managed to escape from under the industrial boot and climb to a respectable position." Rem gazed around the room. They were in the top floor office of Rem's headquarters located on the Moon of a massive gas giant. The actual location was kept secret and all guests were flown in on Rem Corp ships. The office was lavish with only the most expensive decorum. There was an ancient vase from China, a pelt from an extinct polar bear along with many more items of interest that were worth more than most would earn in their entire lives. Yet, Rem inherited it. It made him admire those that build themselves up from the ground.

"So this is some kind of way to get closure for yourself?" Teth asked, amused that one of the richest people in known space could conjure up admiration for others.

"You can say that." He paused and then added. "I won't lie. I'm also interested to see the viability of the system as well."

Bingo. Teth thought. There was always the bit of greed and self interest that drove anyone like Rem.

"While you're already there..." Teth said.

"Exactly," Rem nodded and clapped his hands together. "Might as well take care of all of the unfinished business. Yes." Rem then cleared his throat. "So, can I count on you to take the job?"

Teth had made up his mind well before Rem had gotten into the details of the mission. "Chance to find out what really happened to Marty? Chance to finally put his case to rest. Yeah. I'm in."

"Good," Rem allowed himself a genuine smile. "We can go over the monetary compensation later since this is still a mission into unknown space. I can assure you that I'll be able to pay any fee, but before we get to that, I'd like you to follow me." Rem got up and Teth followed suit, but with more joints popping and a groan.

Rem led Teth down the building all the way to ground floor and the even further down. They chatted lightly in the elevator about work.

Teth was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Rem. On the outside, the boy was a bonafide businessman. On the inside he was just another guy who liked to talk and make friends.

Upon reaching what Teth could only assume was the lowest level, Rem led him out into a massive space.

"Say hello the Aurora," Rem extended his hands out to the large, sleek ship. It wasn't at all like most space faring ships that were larger than a one or two seat puddle jumper. It looked more like a star fighter, but bigger. It's wings were wide, easily reaching two hundred meters across which narrowed down to a pointed tip. Windows showed that the ship had at least four decks with possibly more in the larger central cavity where the bridge was. It was covered in silvery metal plates that reflected light easily and had her name painted on the side in swirling red.

"I've never seen a ship like this before." Teth gawked at the beast. Ships were either sleek and small or large and boxy, both of which were economically best. A small ship needed to be light, so the parts were brought together and the body was essentially molded over while a large ships needed room for cargo. This ship was meant for luxury, it could afford to be economically unviable.

"Custom built in the Jovian docks. She can accelerate to .01 C in just under an hour. But of course that doesn't matter when any ship can be fitted with a Cossus engine." Rem walked over to his pride and joy and patted her underside. People walked around him, loading the ship via the ramp that jutted out the side. They carried heavy crates.

"I see your already packing to go." Teth stepped out of the way of the workers who seemed to be struggling a bit. "What are in those boxes?"

"Essentials," Rem answered plainly. "Space is a dangerous place. Never know what we'll find. And as for loading up so soon. I was going to leave with or without you. Having you just helps smooth things out."

"Makes sense." Teth slowly began to make his way around the ship, inspecting it as if it was his own. He was going to be in it after all. "How many people are you bringing. A single ranger could easily scan an entire system."

"She requires a crew of about twenty and I'll be bringing back a few of my security personnel along with a science team. I'd say forty max," Rem shrugged. "Don't like too much company?"

"It's not that. I'm a stickler for safety. Knowing how many people will help me form a plan in case of an emergency," Teth explained. It was one of his jobs as a ranger that was stuck behind a desk. He reviewed all missions before they happened and applied the necessary safety regulations.

Rem understood and liked that Teth was already getting involved. "Okay then. I'll be taking care of some paperwork. You're welcome to continue your inspections and I'll make sure to get you a staff badge as well." Rem excused himself and headed back to his office with more confidence about the potential for this mission that he had this morning.

When he got back to his office, Teth saw that he had a waiting call from his sister. He hit the answer button.

"Hello, Miss Harken," Rem said as the image of his sister sitting at her own desk appeared in front of him. She sat with one leg over the other and her fingers laced together, resting on her knee. She wasn't in her usual business attire. Instead she was in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Must have been about to hit the gym.

"Don't call me that, Remmy." She uncrossed her legs.

"Don't call me Remmy, Abby."

"Deal."

"Deal." They both grinned now that their version of hello was done with. Abby's grin faded first.

"So you're actually going through with it?" She asked, obviously looking displeased. "I've seen the estimates. Hazard pay. Fees and fines. The ranger. It would be easier to only send the ranger." She flicked trough a folder she had laying close by.

"Yes, but I feel obligated to go out there myself," Rem told his sister.

"Why?" She asked. "You hired an Orion's Ranger to do his job. They know the risks and pay the price on occasion. Nothing you did was wrong."

"I didn't have the right to ask this ranger though." Rem sighed. "I had hired him multiple times before and he always..."

"Yes yes yes." Abby waved the soon to be monologue away. "Everyone knows about the history you and this Marty share and how you two butted heads. Regardless of the history, the rangers still sent him."

"You're not going to talk me out of this," Rem slapped his hands down onto his desk, possible to hard. It stung his palms. "I've made up my mind. I just feel..." Rem got a little dizzy and had to sit down.

"Feel what?" Abby asked.

"I don't know," Rem nursed his temples between his fingers. He was getting a headache now. The more he thought about going to deep space, the more the headache grew. "I just feel that I have to go."

"You HAVE to?" There was a scoff. "You sound superstitious, but..." she groaned and closed her eyes. "I can't stop you from making stupid decisions. If you die, I'm selling your estate." The image cut out and just like that, the conversation was over.

Rem did know how long he sat there alone in his office. He thought about his entire life. His entire existence has been spent building the company his forefathers had built by exploring uncharted space and then mining viable planets. The responsibility of management had gone down from father to son, with each generation looking farther into uncharted space. It was a drive that they had. They always felt that they were looking for something and no matter how profitable and planet became, there was always a little disappoint. They were never truly satisfied... until now. Something about the system that Marty vanished in drew Rem to it. He had tried to forget it after the tragedy, but he always went back to it. He scanned it with satellites for the past two years and as soon as it was apparent that it should have been safe, Rem knew that he had to go there himself. He simply had to. There was no other explanation.

"Sir." The voice of Rem's secretary snapped him out of his daze. How long had it been. Outside told him nothing. The moon he was on had rotation that matched its orbit so one face always looked at the gas giant. The passage of time was hard to tell, even over long periods of time.

"What is it?" Rem pressed the button to his com.

"Mr. Teth has left the building. Do you want me to add him to the registry so he can come back and inspect the ship further?"

"Uhm... yeah." Rem didn't wait for a confirmation from the secretary. He got up and walked over to the far wall where there was on old painting of the original founder of the company. It was from well before the company was Rem Corp. The company had changed names many times, but it had never left the family.

The painting gave a soft smile to everyone who entered the room, but the eyes were hollow and void, as if there was no soul. Rem passed off the haunted look to being a bad painting.

Rem didn't know much about his ancestor, other than that he had the same drive to find something out there in space and had know Cossus himself before the man had gone missing.

Rem gave the warm smile back. "I think I did it. I think I found what you were looking for. What our entire family was looking for. Just a little bit longer and I'll find it."

Maybe there was a bit of warmth in those eyes after all.

Rem saw that the nameplate of the painting was smudged. He quickly used the sleeve of his shirt and wiped it clean so that he could clearly read it.

"Aetin"