The ship was rattling under the gravity of the nearby gas giant as they entered its orbit, though Sorath and Raven did not seem to notice or care. Silence mostly filled the trip. Raven was looking for some kind of acknowledgment from Sorath, and he was looking for an explanation from her. Neither one bothered to ask or explain; instead, they sat there looking opposite ways. If not for her duty towards the throne, she would have refused to embark on this trip with Sorath.

The ship had no viewports; it was a small transport shuttle with the primary purpose of transport. Sorath imagined what the gas giant looked like; he had not visited it before. The Prion system consisted of four primary planets; the gas giant was the furthest away out of them all. Mined for Nitrogen, the giant was no longer, the gas mines in its upper atmosphere were plenty, and there was constant activity.

Sorath thought about those millions of miners braving the harsh storms of the planet with their mining craft every day to provide the galaxy with a gas it uses to live. Each person had a life and a story to tell; they had children, wives, and communities. For a moment, he thought about the fact that he had a son. The question was burning in him.

“Where is he?” Sorath finally managed to ask. Raven looked at him; she was glad he asked. The silence was finally broken.

“I don’t know.” She finally answered. “He left me to search for a life somewhere else, Vody perhaps.”

“A religious man?” Sorath never trusted the priests and monks of Vody; they were a superstitious bunch out looking for powers that didn’t exist. Tristius used to call them a bunch of hallucinating old fools.

“He always believed in something greater than himself.” She continued. “I haven’t heard from him in over a year now.”

Sorath considered this; he might have been well suited for life within the Epismus’s employ.

“Does he know who I am?” Sorath asked, fixing his gaze to Raven’s.

“No.” She offered no explanation, Sorath looked away with relief.

“It will be better for him to stay that way.” His heart was heavy; ever since Raven revealed this truth to him, he longed to meet the boy, though he would place him in considerable danger if he did.

“Where does it leave us?” Raven’s question was sincere; Sorath knew it would never be possible for them to be together again, not unless she is welcomed into the Order.

“I don’t know.” He managed to conclude, he also desired to be with her; he didn’t want to blow her off completely.

Sorath looked up at her; her head was down. He could almost feel her sadness.

 

 

The pilot finally broke the silence as he notified his passengers that they were cleared and on approach to the Morningstar. Both of them looked up at the corner where the voice was coming from. Silence filled the air again. Moments later, the ship landed, Captain Rogers was already waiting for them in the hangar.

“Welcome back, Admiral.” Sorath, at first, did not acknowledge him; he felt sorry for the man nonetheless. “And to you, Commander Raven.” Then, although she at least accepted him, he smiled.

Sorath saw that the Captain’s hand was on his traditional dagger; he was wearing his ceremonial uniform too. Captain Rogers was known to only wear his ceremonial attire when having an official meeting with the Epsimus.

“Captain Rogers.” Sorath finally saluted the old Captain. His features relaxed, but he kept his hand on the dagger. Sorath was prepared for any sneak attack from him.

“News had reached me about Archon Tristius; it is the grimmest affair.”

Apparent nervousness resonated from the captain; both Sorath and Raven sensed it; Sorath remained silent; he did not want to talk about the demise of his old master.

“Have you been briefed by Iphis?” His question lingered for a while.

“Indeed I have.”

“And?”

“We need to speak in private.” The captain said.

“The Commander is to escort me where I go.”

“But of cause, he is the emperor now.” He wasn’t saying it to Sorath instead to the dagger he was holding; his head remained lowered for a moment, contemplating.

“It will be better if we spoke in private.” He repeated, hoping Sorath would understand.

Sorath looked over to Raven, not expecting an answer from her, though she nodded in approval. He was capable enough to handle the Captain by himself if he tried anything.

 

 

The Order was always watching; somehow, there were recording devices everywhere. No one could be trusted. The guards assigned to protect were sometimes spies for the Epsimus; nothing said in the presence of anyone was safe or confidential. Sorath had the privilege of having his conversations and business be private on Prion; it was one of the most important agreements between the Order and the Empire.

However, the Morningstar was not immune; everything was recorded in each room, corridor, kitchen, and bathroom that can be found on the ship; Sorath wondered where the old captain would take him where they’ll genuinely be far away from prying eyes.

 

 

Captain Rogers led him through places in the Morningstar Sorath had never been aware of, though he studied the ship’s schematics intently, he did not remember that these places were ever on the craft. Finally, he led Sorath into a small room, even Sorath, the fleet's Admiral, hidden from most. He closed the large steel door behind them, making the room dark. A small red light switched on in the corner.

“I know why you have come here; Iphis shared her plan with me.” The captain was visibly shaking, his hands clammy, and he swallowed hard every five seconds.

“I must obey the orders of Iphis; you do understand this, my old friend?” The captain nodded.

“I need to ask you something.” The captain had nowhere else to go; a mere question would not hurt, he nodded.

“I know we have had our differences over the years, and I would like to set it aside right now and ask you this: Did you authorize the attack on the Palace?”

 The Captain’s eyes widened; genuine surprise filled his features.

“I-I” He stumbled over his words; sweat formed on his forehead and soaked his brows. His mouth was dry, too; his eyes seemed to spin.

“I would never attack an Archon of the Order.”

“You know the assassins who attacked were elite units trained only within the ranks of the Epsimus; they can only be sent by the higher commanders of the Order; there is no one else in this system besides myself that outranks you.” Sorath was mad; his voice was strong and echoed in the small room.

“Please, believe me, Admiral, I did not authorize the attack.”

“I believe you.” Sorath finally said, placing his hand on the captain’s shoulder. The captain gave a sigh of relief.

“This is the final days of the Order.” The captain's eyes grew dark, his smirk widened. “Iphis will destroy this Order and everyone who serves within it. This galaxy will be plunged into a dark age it has never witnessed in its existence.”

“This is not the end, Captain.” Sorath sensed his hopelessness; the man was at his end. Whatever Iphis told him was not good and did not give him any of the reassurances he had hoped she would.

“There is no way out Admiral, we are all doomed. I don’t know how I’ve missed it all these years. Epsimus Thanatos has laid the foundation for all our graves.”

“What do you mean?” Sorath could see the absolute terror in his eyes in the dim red light; the man was petrified.

“I had a dream, Admiral, a dream where the entire universe is consumed by Iphis, everyone… Young, small, big, and old. Everyone is going to be destroyed by her.” His hands started to shiver even more; he looked around to make sure no one was looking.

“Being the emperor of the largest empire in the galaxy will not save you from the coming end.”

He pulled his ceremonial dagger from his side. Sorath stepped back; he did not expect the captain to be so bold as to attack him. Instead, the captain took a few steps back until he reached the door behind him. He pointed the knife at his own throat.

“Don’t do this.” Sorath pleaded, but he could see the man was done speaking.

“Admiral Sorath, you have been a pain in my neck for all the time since you assumed command; that command was mine; I worked for it.”

“It’s still not too late.”

The captain lowered the knife a little and considered his plea, but then, Sorath could see in the captain’s eyes something profound was bothering him; nothing he could say or do would stop him from doing what he was trying to do.

“No.” The captain said his lips were shivering, and Sorath could hear that his mouth was dry in his murmur. “It is too late.”

 

 

In a flash, Sorath lept towards him, managing to disarm him, the captain fell to the side, and Sorath rushed to pick up the dagger; he was not about to let the man kill himself in front of him. Captain Rogers chuckled in the corner; he did not seem to care much that Sorath had just saved his life.

“You think you’re such a hero, Sorath Velix, one day you will think back to what I’ve said, and you will discover that everything was true, that you too should have taken the easy way out. It does not matter whether Iphis or Thanatos sits on the throne of the universe; they are only pawns on a grander chessboard.”

 He stood up from the floor, keeping his eyes on Sorath; it was difficult to determine what he would do next. Sorath kept his guard up; he was hoping that he had unarmed the man for good.

From behind the captain’s uniform, he took out a gun and pointed it to his throat. “I’ll see you around.”

 The captain sank to the ground; Sorath managed to catch him and lay him down gently. The man looked into Sorath’s eyes, a look that made him feel guilty.

“Darkness is coming.” Those were the final words of the captain; his eyes turned to glass, a blank stare. Sorath left his body on the ground.

The sound of the shot had echoed down the corridor; Sorath instructed Raven to stay and wait for him; it was close enough for her to intervene if something went wrong but far enough to not be able to intrude on the meeting. Raven rushed towards the room when she found Sorath exiting with a pale shocked expression. In all his years serving the Order, he had never witnessed anyone taking their own lives before.

“Are you hurt?” She asked Sorath searching for a wound on him but couldn’t find any.

 

 

Sorath found himself standing in the private quarters of the captain. Usually, it was spotless; there would be not a single item out of place. But, instead, he found a room in turmoil; he knew not what he walked in on. Raven was standing behind him.

“I would have expected more order in the room of a captain.”

 She did not have sympathy towards the late captain. She’s seen many suicides in uniform before; this was nothing new to her. A serviceman who resorts to suicide was no better than a deserter.

“That’s part of the problem.” Sorath broke the silence after a while. “He was the neatest person I knew.”

He scanned through the room, looking for something, anything. He knew Iphis would have contacted him on his personal communicator; he hoped it was somewhere in the room. It seemed like the captain was also looking for something but couldn’t find it; he was a mysterious man in his own right when it came to his personal life. Sorath picked up a picture that seemed to have his wife and three children on the floor, it was broken, but he could still make out the faces of everyone there. The captain never spoke about family, nor his personal life.

“I think I found something,”

Raven called from the bathroom; Sorath rushed there and saw the communicator on the table. He looked at Raven and nodded in approval. He opened the communicator and saw that indeed Iphis was the last one he spoke to, before that mostly high command with his weekly briefings. Nothing more.

“The order did not come from Captain Rogers.”

Sorath was pained by this revelation. He also noticed the conversation with Iphis was recorded. Without hesitation, he played the recording.

 

Captain Rogers: Mistress Iphis, I was expecting your call. Our mission on Prion has been a success.

Iphis: Congratulations, Captain, However, your mission is not complete.

Captain Rogers: Whatever do you mean?

Iphis: Sorath is due to return to the Morningstar. You are to kill him on arrival, send an incident report to Ulri to notify him that the job is done.

There was a pause in the recording; the captain seemed conflicted.

Captain Rogers: I can’t do that.

Iphis: You can, and you will, Captain Rogers; if you don’t, I will personally see to it that your family disappears.

Sorath glanced at the picture in his hand.

Captain Rogers: As you wish.

 

The transmission was ended there; there was nothing more. He looked at the picture again and felt his heartbreak. Not only did she threaten him with his family’s life, but she also ordered a hit on his own life. His trust was broken.

“I envy him” The words weighed heavy on his lips; Raven looked at his eyes from the side to see where he stood emotionally.

“You envy a man who took the easy way out?” She asked, not thinking twice.

“No, for a man who cares enough about his family that he was willing to give up his life for them. This kind of nature is not known within the Order of the Ipsimus.”

He remained silent for a few moments; it was now clear that any doubt he had before was erased. He could not allow this betrayal to pass. He looked at Raven; his face was red, his eyes burnt with a fire that frightened her.

“Contact Ulri; I need to meet with him and the High Command of Prion.”