Deicide the God Eater
The Tenth Chapter

Battle is good; whatever a person lacks reveals itself in thetrials of combat. - Margravine HemaCrocotta.

When Fawn woke she was draped acrossseveral seats in the rear of a Aeolipile processing station. She sat up slowly, wincing as the heavinessin her head returned in a single nauseating wave. Her hot pink hair was covered in grime andher face was full of tiny bloody nicks, but she felt whole. Everywhere she looked, allied soldiers wereshuffling in endless queues, the look of defeat beaten into their faces, wearyeyes already missing home. She stood as afemale soldier approached her, squinting to make sure it was not the woman shehad previously fought, the faces of these enemy soldiers all had a familiarquality. The woman pointed to the markleft on Fawn’s forehead and then motioned for her to follow. She wondered what type of punishment she wasgoing to receive, perhaps a few days in the hole? Even her own army had not been able to crackher under solitary confinement; extra duty, bread and water? Fawn was arock. She grinned at the thought, crackingher dry, split lips and showing the blood between her teeth.

They walked between the columns of soldiersbeing processed by personnel that looked human, on further inspection Fawncould see that they actually were. Shewondered what sort of deal the Fossas had cut with this alien superpower. The woman turned a corner into what Fawnthought was an elevator. She read thesymbols on the wall as they cycled through a number of languages and before itcould reach her own, she was grabbed by a disembodied hand and snatched throughthe warp in space.

“Please follow me more closely. You’re not registered into the system yet andyou won’t be able to get help from the ship if you get lost,” the woman said ina strange accent. Earth maybe, somewherein Asia, Fawn thought. It had been solong since she had any contact with an Earth human. She had heard that Indians had overtaken theworld population wise, as well as becoming a leading world power, along withBrazilians.

“How big is this place?” Fawn said, lookingthrough the transparent decks above.

“The numbers wouldn’t mean anything toyou,” she said, scribbling with a stylus across a digital ready document.

“I’ll give it a shot,” Fawn said.

“Well, it’s far bigger than your galaxy,” shesaid. “That’s if you include the District platters.” Fawn threw her head back and thought on thestatement. Her own planet, Arbaro, saton a mere stem jutting out from an arm of the Milky Way galaxy, even using allareas colonized by humans as a reference, she could not fathom the size in hermind. She instantly regretted notfinishing Spacecraft Propulsion School. She continued trailing the woman across beltways and even a short ridein a small hover cart until they arrived at their destination.

“Couldn’t you just select where you want togo in those weird elevators?” Fawn said.

“Waste of power,” she said.

“Energy problems on a galaxy sizedship? No,” Fawn said.

“No. It’s just not ours to squander,” she said.

“Can I ask who owns it?” Fawn said.

“Lord Deicide,” she said.

“Him again, this dude sounds like he walksaround in a black cape,” Fawn said.

“It’s not a cape, actually,” she said,waving to a short haired woman up ahead. The woman introduced her as Rodela Adarga, a Grade Five Risk Eater. Fawn noted how crisp Rodela’s uniform looked,standing there with a statuesque posture and her professionally short, but cute,haircut; Fawn already knew what type of woman she would be, a career-mindedlifer. In contrast to Fawn, who was onlya lifer because she lacked the temperament for anything else. Their greeting was polite, but curt, and soonFawn was following Rodela through the medical decks. Here she was run through a battery ofphysical exams, immunizations and numerous briefs on regulations andprocedures. Rodela leaned in a corner,while a team of doctors asked Fawn a series of questions. Rodela sighed repeatedly, constantly checkingher elaborate wristwatch.

“So you say you’ve had StrengthEqualization Procedures?” one said.

“Yeah,” Fawn said.

“Would you pick this weight up for me?” anothersaid. Fawn lifted the metal blockeasily, guessing it probably weighed about hundred pounds, and then she smirkedand lifted the weight over her head to show off. The indifference of the medical staff toldFawn that perhaps this was something ordinary for all women here.

“Thank you. You’re free for the rest of the day. Your handler will show you around. INDOC starts tomorrow,” a doctor said, then they removed themselves fromthe room and Fawn dressed in the clothes that were provided for her. She could feel Rodela’s angry eyes radiatingbeams of hate into her skull, but she could only assume it was resentment forthis assignment. She wondered why anAJ-squared-away would be pulling a babysitter billet. Fawn heaved a sigh as she finished dressingin the cobalt blue uniform of a Deathless Cadet. On top of it was a gray armband. She looked up and saw that Rodela had patchon her own armband, wolves sleep at the foot of a throne.

“What if I refuse to serve?” Fawn said.

“You’ll be sent with the rest of the generalpopulation. District T38S0075 is beingfilled now, trust me, this is the better deal,” Rodela said. They both began to walk towardsO-Country. Fawn glanced around at theshining white surfaces, the straight-backed formality of the juniors, thebarely within regulation haircuts of the flyboys, she was amongst theofficers. Suddenly she missed herfireteam, the scrapes they had gotten themselves into, she hoped Flechette andLechwe had made it out alright. Chital,she thought.

“I’m pretty much done with this shit. Tired of taking orders from some prick Inever see,” Fawn said.

“Your brother will be disappointed,” Rodelasaid, watching Fawn’s reaction. Immediately the woman stopped.

“What?” Fawn said, curling her fists so tight, she thought she could hear themcreak.

“Your brother’s a Risk Eater,” Rodela said.

“I want to see him,” Fawn said.

“You will. He’s on duty now, but he’ll be back soon. You hungry?” Rodela said. I could eat, Fawn thought, she had not eatenanything since the morning of their assault, and her body told her that it hadbeen at least a day since then.

Rodela led Fawn into the dining hall, aspace that seemed far too fancy for either of the women’s station, they weregreeted by friendly staff and smiling faces of junior officers. She wondered what type of regime she hadlanded herself in; these people were nothing like the monsters she had comeinto contact with just a few days ago. She was approached by several people before she had sat down with hermeal, asking about her war experience and how she kept her hair so pink, but whenshe brought up the topic of the ongoing Deathless campaign, details werescarce. She soon discovered thatplanetary battles were nearly a secret to everyone who was not involved incombat; not because of some massive cover up, but because they were socommonplace.

War happened to be on the menu daily for thoseonboard the Aeolipile, to the soldiers it was merely a job, the crew thought ofit as any other routine stop, and the civilians onboard had no interest in itat all. Those who craved excitement andadventure requested billets inside of the Districts or the area surrounding themassive column that ran between them that housed the maintenance-less engineeringplant, known as the Machine. She foundout her brother Alpha supervised a watch shift in such a place, puzzling, as hehad never convinced her or more importantly, any of his Arbaronian superiors,that he was a leader. Alpha had been asolid enlisted soldier, but seemed to lack the drive and skill to makeLieutenant in anybody’s police force, let alone the Risk Eaters. Stories of their exploits appeared far-fetcheduntil Fawn saw actual footage on the large displays in the dining hall. To Fawn, these elite law-enforcement personnelseemed to be part evil-smiting, super cops and part fascist foot soldiers, shewatched as the news covered a protest in one of the Districts, rioters weredealt with swiftly and easily.

“How can anything be more dangerous thanwar? And why would anybody sign up forit?” Fawn said, gnawing on some beef.

Rodela looked around at the dining hall’sfinery. “The ship is nice. It’s a great place to relax and watchyourself grow old. But that sort oflifestyle is not for people like me, like you,” Rodela said.

Fawn kept talking with her mouth full. “Ilike a good rush myself but-" Fawn said.

“It’s not just a rush. It’s a desire, a lust, older than most of oursenses, older than thought,” Rodela said, clenching her fork.

Fawn raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know if I’d call it that. Just a punch of adrenaline,” Fawn said.

“You haven’t been through the pipelineyet. When you see the Fractals, that’swhen you’re in deep, it’s like the world is bleeding into YOU,” Rodela said.“But after you’re done with training you don’t get many of those thrills.” Fawn could only return a blank stare, her owndeath dodging experiences seemed animalistic, instinctive and most importantly,natural; Rodela seemed to be discussing some kind of drug-induced lucidity. Fawn looked up to see Baby Sister walkingtoward them, carrying the same cocky grin on her round Glebula face.

“Ladies,” Baby Sister said. Fawn looked at her and wondered how the womancould get so much force out of that little body. It was then that she noticed that Rodela andBaby Sister wore the same patch on their left arm. She wondered if the patch signified some sortof surname, since they wore nicknames on their nametapes.

“Hey, Baby Sis,” Rodela said, not lookingdirectly at the woman. Withoutunderstanding the cordon rank and achievement system Fawn could see thehierarchy, Baby Sister a veteran and her INDOC handler Rodela was in aprobation phase before she actually started her assignment. It was always within Baby Sister’s right totell both of the women to eat somewhere else. Instead, she plopped down beside them. Though a high ranking officer could tell her to kick rocks as well, forshe was an enlisted Deathless, only a Non-commissioned officer, but it wouldnot be good to offend anyone that wore Deicide’s insignia and colors.

“How you doin?” Baby Sister said; shovelingfood into her mouth, her freckled cheeks stretched as she chewed.

“I’m good,” Rodela said. “Still waiting foranother Risky group to class-up.”

Baby Sis nodded to Rodela and then turnedto Fawn. “Hey Pinky, sorry aboutearlier, I had to work you out a bit. Hellmouth likes to snatch the killers up early,” Baby Sister said.

“Fuck you,” Fawn said.

“Aww. Don’t pout. You’ll get plenty ofchances to kick my ass in a few months,” Baby Sister said. Fawn said nothing; not even a grin would slippast her defenses. Fawn wanted to fightwith her here, in front of everyone, but it would be best not to goad thiswoman. Baby Sister changed the subject.

“I been on duty, running booters on theground, they found Pops yet?” Baby Sister.

Rodela looked glumly at her food. “No, no trace of him,” Rodela said.

Baby Sister rubbed Rodela’s back. “He’ll bealright; you know how the Granpops is. Besides we’ll just grow him a new body, good as new,” Baby Sister said.

Rodela scowled at the freckled woman. “It’s not that simple. Cloning Deicide is nothing like you oranybody else. They have to start fromscratch, all of the husks have to be scrapped, everything recalibrated, he’llbe a different man,” Rodela said a little too loudly.

Fawn hesitated for moment before she spoketo Rodela. “Have, you been cloned?” Fawn said.

“How could I? I never get to leave the ship,” Rodela said.

Baby Sis chuckled. “That’s cause you’re his sweetie,” BabySister said.

“Aw shutup, why do you think you’re evenallowed to eat in here?” Rodela said.

“Hey, you’re not a Risky yet. And let’s not forget I earned my spot,” BabySister said.

Rodela toned her voice down. “Only because Deicide likes being surroundedby his bastards,” Rodela said.

“I’m not the bastard here,” Baby Sistersaid.

“No, you’re just the daughter of one,”Rodela said. Fawn smiled at that.

Baby Sister stood up and glared at Rodela. “We both know you wouldn’t have the fuckingheart to say that if you weren’t Daddy’s girl,” she said, before taking hertray and leaving.

After Fawn had witnessed the exchange, sheconsidered Rodela an ally. Her own timein the military had been difficult with her famous parents and her aunt Cari, arespected general. She understood theweight that people placed on you, forcing you to become someone you were not,could not be. Through numerous chatswith Rodela, Fawn learned about the Aeolipile’s dark business and Deicide’s truemission. Even after weeks onboard shestill could not fathom how their society functioned on any level; the onlything that seemed as if it would work properly was the military, and she wasunsure just where the military ended. Even so called civilians still walked around with cordon loops, an itemshe had reasoned were elaborate military ribbons, and everyone wore an armbandof one color or another.

Later that day Fawn was taken to anothermedical deck. She loved the sleek andflawless design of the Aeolipile interior; she ran her fingers over the glossywalls as they turned left. The two womenstopped just outside of a door that a group of female doctors wereexiting. One of them was the grayskinned Nott, her yellow eyes met with Fawn’s. She could not help but think they were two raw egg yolks sitting on agray platter. Fawn watched her as shereprimanded her much taller subordinates, the long hair like antenna on herhead stood straight up. Then theyscattered as she turned toward Fawn, everyone seemed to be feeling the aura of hatesurrounding her. Rodela led her inside andthe door closed behind them.

“That was Lady Nott, Deicide’s wife, theXO,” Rodela said.

“I’m guessing she’s the one everyone’sactually afraid of?” Fawn said, ploppingdown on the examination bench.

Rodela nodded sheepishly. “Lord Deicide isthe strongest eater onboard,” Rodela said.

“But?” Fawn said.

“The only thing he can do is kill you,” Rodelasaid, just before the door slid open. Itwas Nott with several of her staff members

“This is her, Lady Nott,” a woman to Nott’sright said. Nott stepped forward,looking like a child in comparison to everyone else’s height in the room, shewas dressed in a type of lab coat, though it was white, it looked nothing likeany fabric Fawn had ever seen. Nott glanced briefly at Rodela leaning in thecorner, and her tiny mouth curled into a faint smile.

“I was told you were a fighter,” Nottsaid. Fawn thought the accent soundedvaguely familiar, like some Eastern European, but sing-song.

“I handle myself,” Fawn said.

“Your brother is a fine specimen, tell me,have either of you thought of having children?” Nott said.

“Well not with each other,” Fawn said. Her remark produced a chuckle from everyonebut Nott.

“One of my duties onboard the Aeolipile isto rebuild the numbers of my people,” Nott said. “So far we have beenunsuccessful with a pure Abstrusian, but our Abstrusian hybrids have thrived,especially the Arbaronians.” Nottgestured to Rodela. Fawn looked back atthe woman in the corner, noticing that her hair was such a dark shade of red tobe an Arbaronian and that she had never seen an Arbaronian without a set ofantlers. It was then that Fawnremembered the argument between Rodela and Baby Sister.

Fawn shook her head. “Look, I don’t want anything to do with thisfamily you’re building,” Fawn said.

“That’s fine,” Nott said, putting her tinyhands together. “So you relinquishcustody of any children your eggs will create?”

“What?” Fawn said.

“It’ll only be a few, not like us gals needthem all anyway,” Nott said.