Morrigan guided Clare out of earshot, moving towards the front door of her home before she stopped and asked, “What's this about?”

Clare’s face twisted in concern and uncertainty as she tried to think of how to describe what she saw before sighing and handing over her data-slate. “I’m not sure, it'll be easier if you just watched,” she said.

She could feel Apollyon stir with curiosity as she took the device, her own curiosity piquing having never seen Clare at such a loss for words.

A moment later, a video played, it’s image starting with the view of cockpit window looking out into the galaxy. However, what blocked the majority of the sight looked to be a massive asteroid sitting lazily in space.

“This is from one of our scout ships near the Imperial edge… it just appeared out of no where, and sat above an edge world called Cyrill,” Clare noted.

Morrigan tried to recall the name of the planet but for the life of her she couldn’t recall what system it belonged to however, the image shifted to a recorder on the helmet of one of the ship's troops. The identification of the video read that it was a Lance Corporal by the name of Gonzales and as the image shifted to the hanger bay window, floodlights that shone from the hull of the scout ship revealed something entirely different.

“Sarge? What is that thing?” Gonzales asked, her voice in awe by the massive, unexplainable entity before them.

A gruff voice cut over the video, “No idea, Corporal. The Captain says they detected a drive core inside it though, it barely…registered…” the Sergeant trailed off as the view screen revealed an oddity that caught their attention. Long and short tendrils that spread across the asteroid pulsating like veins with some that waved lazily in the vacuum of space like feelers or hair follicles. Even Morrigan was lost in silence by the sight.

What was more, the surface of the asteroid looked more calcified bone than rock and metal that comprised most asteroids. On top of that, large patches of moss or mold seemed to grow along the surface which should have been impossible.

“Listen up!” the Sergeant roared, and the focus of the scene shifted to focus on an older man wearing Inquisition armor surrounded by a small squad of soldiers.

Once he had everyone’s attention he continued, “The Captain believes this used to be a ship. There has been no signs of life or response and what faint hint of drive core activity is barely on the scanners. So the Captain wants us to investigate and determine what the situation is, if you ask me, it’s likely empty.”

The image panned over to the large hanger window once more in time to see the briefed of glimpses of lettering on the side, “IE” stenciled in faded paint while the rest was consumed by the moss-like substance.

Morrigan cocked her head with scrutiny, “No way…” she mumbled in sync with Gonzales on the screen.

“Sarge! I think this thing is the Malleus Die!” she called out, “I just saw part of the ship name and no ship was as large as that!”

There was a chorus of murmurs that spread across the squad as the Sergeant took a look for himself and reported it to the Captain of the scout ship.

After a long moment, the man stated, “The Captain concurs with the assessment, however we need to be certain that it is in fact the Malleus Die. We are being sent to secure the bridge and check for any signs of life… but from the looks of it we’re not likely to find anything. Nevertheless we need to gather as much intel as possible seeing as they’re broadcasting everything back to home base.”

Morrigan couldn’t help but agree with the idea seeing the state of the ship yet, part of her grew angry that the exiles believed they could return to her territory.

After another moment, the Sergeant added, “The Empress is going to want to know why they’ve returned.”

In unison the squad slammed their fists against their chest plates and called out, “For the Empress!”

 From there, she watched the Inquisitorial troopers file into one of the two dropships in the hanger and question how they would infiltrate the old behemoth. Morrigan too wondered that seeing as she had the hull damage she had wrought repaired and the guns stripped from the hull and sealed.

The report the Sergeant shared was concerning, listing various holes in the hull which should have been impossible for the ship to acquire seeing as she, someone who wielded the pure power of destruction, had strained to inflict similar damage herself.

Instead of delving into the cyclic questions that flooded her mind, she continued to watch the screen as the dropship was guided out of the hanger and towards the floating hulk. The video didn’t offer much in regard to what the pilot saw but after a few long minutes of Lance Corporal Gonzales shifting nervously in her seat within the silent hold was brought to an end with a violent shudder.

“Sorry everyone, it’s a mess in there,” someone said. Morrigan could only assume it was the pilot.

“Alright, make sure your suits are sealed and pressurized. Cycling the hold in five!” The Sergeant called out a moment later as Morrigan caught a glimpse of him moving towards the back of the ship. She watched as several soldiers in view of the camera double check their armor.

At the five second mark, the air in the ship was sucked out by the vacuum though none of the Inquisition troopers seemed bothered by it as they were all still locked into their seats. A moment later the locks clicked and everyone on the ship engaged their electromagnetic boots, sticking them to the floor as they stood to attention.

The recording skipped ahead briefly to show the squad moving through the area they landed in. The area was both familiar yet unfamiliar to Morrigan, nearly solidifying the idea that the ship truly was the Malleus Die though it looked nearly as generic as any other Federation ship. The room was nearly empty though a large array of small shipping containers were bolted to the floor giving insight to the pilot’s difficulty upon landing.

“What is this stuff?” One asked as the screen panned to show a soldier move to attempt to the same mold-like moss that coated the room and surfaces throughout the room in large patches.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Gonzales said sharply, “If it thrives in space means it’s probably not safe.”

Morrigan found that assessment to be sound reasoning as she watched the squad find a door that led into the ship and set up to try and open it.

“There’s still power?” another asked in surprise.

“Well the drives are so operational… barely,” another noted.

There was a massive gust of air as the door opened, releasing all of the atmosphere that had been in the corridor before the team moved in and sealed the door behind them.

The scene was the same as the area they inserted in except now as the team spread out, the camera picked up odd formations that built up against the moss infected walls, similar if not the same bone-like material that covered a majority of the outer hull rising in corners regardless of how small the area was and stretched across the floor and to the ceiling.

Pulsing veins webbed nearly every surface and once the area pressurized again, dust lazily floated in the air as if there hasn't been any atmosphere at all.

Gonzales shifted as several members of the team began to move forward with guns drawn. Watching the barrel of her weapon, Morrigan concluded that the woman had also been weary of the fact that there was no sign of life.

There was a sharp hiss that caused the woman to shift her focus in time to see the Sergeant twist his helmet. The moment the seal separated the man threw the helmet with a strangled cough and clutched at his throat.

Gonzales cried out in alarm which drew everyone else's attention only for her to step back as she watched the man's eyes bulge, phlegm and bile forcing it's way out of his mouth and nose as boils grew near instantly across his face.

“What the fuck!” she and four other members cried out in alarm as the bile foamed into pus and blood and seeped out of every open orifice on their Sergeant’s head.

A moment later the man collapsed to the ground, leaving the team in stunned silence as flashlights waved across his body, everyone looking at one another with expressions of horror hidden behind their helmets.

“No one removes their helmets!” Gonzales ordered with the responsibility of leadership presumably falling to her, her voice cracking in disgust and horror before she shifted towards the rest of the team. “We may have atmosphere but it looks like we have a biologic on board… our suits filters seem to work against whatever is in the air but let’s make this quick…” she added.

She then relayed what had happened to the Captain and suggested that the med bay prepare a decontamination area upon their return.

She never heard the reply from the Captain though as a chorus of howling echoed down the corridor that snapped each soldier to attention. Before anyone could question the sound, the tell-tale report of automatic gunfire resonated from in front of the woman followed by the shout, “Contact!”

Morrigan couldn't hear the orders Gonzales barked out as everyone poured gunfire down the corridor with professional discretion. What was concerning was what little effect it seemed to have as members of the team began to back up and run into each other as those who ran their magazines dry attempted to reload while creating distance.

The man that blocked the camera nearly fell back into Gonzales and soon after, the sound of ripping flesh and cries of anguish became a cacophony with the howling moans of what approached. There was a torrent of shouting screaming and dwindling gunfire as something appeared on screen before the video abruptly ended.

Morrigan stared at the black screen for a moment waiting for something to happen but after a minute, she rewound the recording to freeze on the blur that had appeared on the feed. It looked human, or at least humanoid though she could only see an elongated jaw and one bulging eye set into sticky green skin. The poor lighting masked the rest of it though she could see just over it's shoulder the dome-like shape of what looked like a bald head.

That was it though and Morrigan was at a kiss for words. Clare though had something to add.

“We soon lost contract with the scout ship… I sent a Destroyer to investigate, however we've yet to hear from them and they should have arrived nearly two hours ago,” she said with palpable concern.

We should go, Apollyon added sharply, the deity’s tone filled with a sense of determination and pensiveness.

Morrigan shifted her gaze and stared at the handle of her front door as she responded in her mind, “What do you think it is?”

There was a moment of silence which made Morrigan scrutinize the deity in her mind before Apollyon managed to say, I can’t say for certain… but part of Morrigan didn’t believe it.

“Mori?” Clare asked, drawing her attention to see the worried look on the Lord Inquisitor’s face.

She couldn't argue with Apollyon, “We’ll talk about this later,” she stated firmly before turning her full attention to her Lord Inquisitor. “I’ll need a ship,” she said with grim determination in her tone. If there was a new threat to her people, her galaxy, she would face to before anyone else had to lose their lives to it. She had worked to hard for the peace she brokered and whatever it was on the Malleus Die that killed her Inquisition soldiers won’t survive long enough to affect anyone else.

Clare nodded sharply, “My ship is currently being prepared, we leave in three hours.”

◇◇◇

Morrigan had received the ten minute warning that they would make the transition into real space as she sat waiting in Clare’s private quarters. She felt irritated, anxious and worried that a new threat had arrived on their doorstep and Apollyon had been unresponsive the entire time they were in FTL travel.

“Understood,” Morrigan said as she got to her feet. She took a deep breath and moved across the massive, and lavish, living room towards the door before Apollyon finally spoke.

Stay here for a moment… Apollyon’s tone ringing clear in her mind with a heavy note of timidity in its voice.

She would have ignored the deity, aggravated that it chose to say something after days of attempting to get it’s attention except, Morrigan had never heard Apollyon timid before, and that gave her pause.

There was a moment of silence before Morrigan finally asked, “What is it?”

Apollyon let out a long drawn out sigh, Do you remember our deal?

With a furrowed brow she cocked her head in confusion, “What do you mean? Like… our deal? Like the deal we made when we came together?” She didn’t understand why Apollyon would bring that up. If that’s what it meant. It had been nearly two decades since then and how it had anything to do with their situation she couldn’t even begin to fathom.

“Actually…” she thought as she realized that any time it was brought up Apollyon always said they would talk about it later but never did.

Right, so… you recall how I said I killed the dinosaurs by crash landing into the Earth and became trapped in that prison of a planet? Apollyon asked, watching her nod in recollection, Well I didn’t do that on purpose…

Morrigan stepped away from the door and moved across the room towards the viewing port that looked out over the massive Battleship’s prow.

The truth is, I was in a fight… with my daughter.

“Your fucking what!?” Morrigan demanded in utter surprise.

Quiet! Apollyon admonished only for Morrigan to cut the deity off once again.

“Oh no, you never mentioned you have a fucking daughter! How is that even possible?”

Apollyon growled in annoyance as it waited for her to shut up. As Morrigan crossed her arms in a huff, Apollyon continued, In the beginning my siblings created the universe, filled it with endless life and I was charged with cycling life through death.

Morrigan grunted in annoyance, “Yes, we discussed this.”

Sure, but what I never mentioned is that after the first eon or two, it got rather boring… one could even say lonely, Apollyon said, a hint of embarrassment in the deity’s voice.

The tension bled from Morrigan's shoulders as she felt the new emotion. Apollyon never felt embarrassment, in fact, the deity hated the emotion but for it to feel embarrassed was monumental to its importance.

“What do you mean?” she asked with genuine concern.

Apollyon let out another sigh and said, My job, per say, always kept me either ahead of my siblings or behind them. While they worked together to craft new and better existence, I was alone to destroy what was, for what was to come… it was fine for a while, even fun but after so long it got tiresome.

There was a pause, So, I tried my hand at creation. If my siblings could do it then so could I, right? Well, that’s what I did. I made a being, infused with a rather large portion of my own being, and she was everything I hoped her to be.

Morrigan’s eyes narrowed as she tilted her head in scrutiny, “How much power did you give her?”

Let’s say… roughly 45 percent… Apollyon grunted and listened to Morrigan groan at the answer.

She is an entire aspect of destruction, where as you are destruction, annihilation in its finality, she was born to be the decay and rot that proceeds destruction, the ruin that follows, Apollyon added, a mixture of pride and sadness emanating from the being.

Morrigan let out a long, frustrated sigh. She never expected to have such information thrust upon her, let alone the possibility of finding such a being in her life time yet there she stood, on the way to possibility meet the god of destruction’s daughter, and she had no idea how to feel about it.

“What happened?” she asked after a moment.

Right, Apollyon snorted in an attempt to hide the shame and embarrassment it felt, So, in my infinite wisdom, I followed the same process my siblings used except I took out the things she wouldn’t need such as the ability to eat or reproductive organs… However…

Morrigan’s eyebrows rose at the implication that Apollyon had messed up, which had been obvious.

For millenia we soared the stars, bringing death to the universe but as she came of age, per say, I realized that though I removed all of the physical traits a common intelligent creature would need to thrive, I forgot to remove the inherent, impulsive drive that life needs… mainly, in this case, the need to breed, Apollyon stated.

She nearly choked on a laugh but caught herself as her eyes went wide, realizing that the deity hadn’t been joking.

“And?” she questioned with exuberant curiosity.

When she brought it up, I told her it was impossible because I designed her without that capability… well, she didn’t take that very well, one thing led to another and I got launched across the universe and impacted with Earth where my body died and my being became trapped, Apollyon said with annoyance as if remembering the incident as if it happened the day before.

She absorbed the information and considered what Apollyon was telling her and yet…

“What does this have to do with our deal?” she asked.

Apollyon went silence however, Morrigan could feel the anger of the deity began to bleed into her body, What I want is for you to put her down.

“Wait, what? You mean, you want me to kill your daughter?” Morrigan exclaimed in disbelief and she could feel the deity nod inside her soul.

The bitch locked me in a cell for millions of years, destroyed my body and usurped my place in the universe! I created her, as I created you and I will be the one to remove her from existence! Apollyon spat with vehemence.

Morrigan was surprised by Apollyon’s hatred especially since the deity had been so loving and caring towards her own children. To believe Apollyon hated its own daughter seemed unreal but at the same time she could understand how infuriating it could be to be imprisoned by someone else, more so if it had been by a loved one though she never experienced that herself, that was something she couldn’t imagine.

What Apollyon had said though, for the second time, begged another question.

“What do you mean you created me? You didn't, I have parents and didn't meet you until I was 19,” Morrigan pointed out the obvious.

Apollyon snickered at that, Heh, yeah you have parents alright but I made you, Mori. I built you from the ground up and you inherited as much of my power as my daughter had. I am nothing but a faded symbol of what I once was…

The deity paused, letting it’s words sink in before it continued, You are my inheritor, Morrigan, my replacement, a demigod amongst mortals. You wanted the power to shape your reality and I gave it to you! From a tiny, raving girl to a woman with the power to destroy planets all to deliver your desired peace! Apollyon’s words held a sinister tone yet just underneath the surface, Morrigan could feel appreciation, admiration. You became everything I hoped you would be… my gift to you; revenge, peace, near immortality… all I want is vengeance. As the shell of the god I was, I ask you, help me get my vengeance… this one final act of violence is all I ask before we settle into your era of peace.

Morrigan’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly a she found herself lost for words. It had been nearly too much to for her to process. Her mind tried to cope with the idea of being a demigod, let alone the fact that the god of death that inhabited her body wasn’t the god of death anymore. She thought back to all the subtle comments Apollyon had made over the years, especially calling her “little goddess”, or even the fact that Apollyon had called her children demigods as well before they were born…

There were so many implications in the deity’s words that she couldn’t keep up with it all and the stupid question slipped out, “Am I your daughter too?”

Apollyon let out a deep chuckle before she felt it shake it’s head, Not really, I mean, if it helps you process it better than sure, you can think of yourself like that but you, you are my greatest achievement…

Somehow, the comment snapped Morrigan out of her stupor and made her grunt in disgust. The way Apollyon said it made her sound like some kind of prize.

She shook her head sharply before sighing, “So, I have to kill your daughter…” Her gaze settling on the kaleidoscope of flashing lights of distant stars that sped past the massive Battleship.

Are you ready to meet your sister? Because we're here, Apollyon stated rhetorically as the view snapped to reality with a near nauseating rebound before a view of horror displayed itself before Morrigan.

Ahead of her floating in space was the wreckage of two starships that lay shattered beyond recognition, and further ahead sat the misshapen form of the Malleus Die, with a massive tendrils jutting from its side that stretched down to the planets surface; veins of black leeching into the world below, the color of the surface having dulled into a pale shadow surrounding the alien contact.

Morrigan’s heart broke at the sight and anger roared to life in the furnace that was her soul, “Let’s kill this bitch.”