Call to Arms

Miles woke to a screeching alarm. It was unlikely that the ark was under attack. It was well understood that the soldiers and their barracks were disposable assets of the hive mind, a lost ark would be nothing more than a minor loss to be calculated in the next expense report.

This alarm signified something far more important. Somewhere in some world there was a threat to the ark Angeles' material gain.

A revolt, a strike, an inefficiency of labor at some ore mine. It didn't matter what it was exactly except that in order to prevent some marginal loss to an already unimaginable stockpile of riches; miles and his team were to be dispatched to "smooth over" the problem quickly.

The "smoothing" almost always. No —without fail; involved physical violence.

Miles swallowed the rattling feeling in his chest. It was time to scab over whatever wounds he suffered from this morning and become a model servant for his superiors.

Through the help of nervous system implants he was able to effortlessly lift himself up out of his bunk despite his tiredness. He climbed in to his suit which was waiting for him by the door. It latched on to various nodes along his spinal column and began circulating a low potency embalming fluid through his veins. "He who follows me shall live forever"

Other soldiers appeared at their doors and they began to proceed single file down the main hall.

The sharp red flashing and screeching sound of the alarm provided sharp contrast to the darkness of their ship and their slow deliberate movements which resembled a funeral procession more than soldiers on marching orders.

They left the barrack cells and followed a cramped cavernous passageway through the ship. Finally reaching a massive hollow which resembled the nave of an ornate cathedral.

The alarm came to an abrupt halt.

The walls were decorated with high ranking host bodies all at the disposal of the hive mother.

Miles and his squadron genuflected in front of a large crucifix where the host mothers vessel hung.

She looked down at them with a cold malaise her 'eyes' already long since physically dead but animated now by the suit she wore.

"You have been called here today for a special mission."

As she spoke they all received visions through their neural implants. "In a recently discovered world, on the edge of our kingdom there exists unimaginable riches." Miles saw flashing before his eyes a beautiful green planet. Lush greenery and deep turquoise rivers. Blue skies with billowing clouds and caverns filled with delicate crystalline ore. For a moment he felt a piece of his tension slip away. But that was cut short by another vision, "the savages that live here are infected with wicked hearts." men carrying long spears impaled arkangeles. The arkies didn't scream when they died but a sickly yellow tinted blood came out of their wounds and a gurgling sound from their mouths.

More violence. The men stormed an arky colonial settlement. Arkies were being impaled left and right. More gurgling, more blood spilling. Finally the vision showed dead suited bodies strewn across the landscape.

To deface the suit was a sacrilege. Miles sensed the others in his squadron around him reacting with blind rage.

He remained cool. This was one of the special points that made him stand out among the others. He was somehow able to receive implants with minimal damage to his higher order executive functioning. He could remain calm, unattached, and make sound decisions from this headspace. That's why he had been appointed squad leader on this particular day. And there were plans for a promotion under way, depending on todays performance.

"Now that you have seen the sacrilege, we have said already that todays mission is a special one."

The others around him were seething, but he waited patiently for the orders.

"The world which we have shown you is a special one, the surface and it's greenery are remarkable examples of gods handiwork, yes. But what lies deep within this world, is most important. Those crystals you saw. They can fetch a high price, of course, and certainly they will. But we are not so interested in that. The chemical makeup of these crystals is a perfect match to Sanguis Dei. This is perhaps the largest deposit that we have ever found to date."

Sangius Dei; the blood of god. The fluids that the suits pumped through their veins was comprised of this rare and powerful preservative. "You shall be covered in the blood of the sacrificial lamb, so that you may have eternal life."

The hive mother continued. "As the vision has shown you as well, there is a threat to our collection of sanguis dei. The ingnorant of this particular world know do not know the value that lies beneath their feet. In their ignorance they chose not to comply with the will of god and instead committed the blasphemous act of defacing our holy suits" — Suits always were more important than the human lives that inhabited them.

"Instead of salvation, the inhabitants of this world have chosen sacrilege. For this reason it is our duty to purify the kingdom of those who would commit evil."

"Today we appoint Miles as lead on this mission." The hive mother gave a gaping look skyward. "We ask you lord to work through miles, to bring through him the purifying light of the father, to restore innocence and purity to this blessed world of yours. So that it may be used for your will."

Miles' heart skipped a beat. And he started to sweat. He was feeling less cool and collected now. 'Purifying light' was not just a spiritual term but a code for the most powerful weapon that the arkangeles owned.

It had the capacity to wipe out life on entire planets while leaving all mineral, architectural and technological structures completely in tact. Its use was only reserved for the most special cases and could only be approved by the highest order of the arkangeles.

The fact that a mid tier rank soldier like miles had been given the responsibility of wielding this weapon was not only a great honor but also completely unusual. And for him, completely terrifying.

"Miles, you have set yourself apart from your peers" she paused "in many ways." He caught a glimmer of lust in her long-dead eyes. "We have the highest hopes for you to rise ranks and perhaps even one day receive eternal life as a servant of God. Along with this comes every type of abundance that the lord can provide."

As the the briefing was coming to a close the arky ship was hurtling through space towards the planet in question.

Pods attached tho the external part of the ship were being readied, and miles climbed in to his.

The large view port was ornate like stained glass. He had practiced this drill many times with his crew men but never expected that one day he would actually be in charge of a mission to bring purifying light.

As his shuttle undocked and he drifted closer to the planet he issued orders to his comrades shuttles- he announced points of latitude and longitude where the other ships would station themselves over the planet forming a perfect grid pattern. The others shuttled off quickly towards their positions.

Steadying their positions would take a few hours at least.

As he waited, and his ship made its way to its own mark just above the planets axis.

As other members of his squad reached their positions they signaled him over radio. Hundreds of ships would need to take position, voice after voice came over his radio giving the word that they were ready.

He barked standby orders to each as they came through, confirmed the correct location of their position, and dealt with any logistical mistakes deftly as they came through.