Interlude

Folic of the mighty thirty first fleet waited impatiently, drumming his claws on the display. A seed of fear and excitement filled his heart as the thirty ships exited through the jump gate and activated cloaking fields. After nearly ten hours of tireless scanning, he could rest easy. For the moment, there was no enemy force within ten light hours. This outcome was far better than he ever expected.

Only half of the fleet didn't make it while crossing the great expanse of the fringes. And better, half of his crew awoke from their enforced hibernations.

Granted, he would need to scrap half of his ships to keep the other half running, but that was a mild inconvenience. The sheer amount of profit waiting to be taken in the sector was immeasurable. His clan would celebrate his name for centuries if he established a foothold for the lifeless legion in this sector.

He sighed in disappointment, glancing at his display. Half of his force was already dead, the unlucky souls on their ultimate mission now. Theirs was the hardest task, purifying the scourge of the afterlife to make way for the other anointed. Folic shook his bulbous head, putting those lost warriors from his mind.

His long journey was complete, but now he needed to find a secluded star system to take all his ships offline for repairs. After all, how could he purify these worlds of corruption with his ships practically falling apart from the journey? To accomplish his goals, he needed to go to specific co ordinants and wait for his contact to arrive.

He grinned in anticipation. His clan would be pleased. None of those uptight purifiers back home could complain about his results. All it took was a month, and he had already established some gullible contacts for resupply. The fool company from Zrixia were far too easily manipulated and believed they were meeting a foreign business executive to sell wears.

His tentacles trembled with excitement at the thought of cleansing his prey of corruption. The lifeless legion would commandeer the cargo ships' supplies and personnel for their own use. With the supplies, he might be able to salvage and repair twenty of his ships.

For days, his fleet hovered around the jump gate like a flock of angry birds, waiting for their prey to arrive. His contact, a cargo ship run by the Zrixians and the Tallax, finally came through the jump gate after nearly a month of waiting. He was excited. What kind of aliens might he find here? He had reports on some of the aliens in this sector, but that wasn't the same as meeting them in person.

The sensors of his mighty battle ship lit up as the cargo ship sent out a ping with its verification codes. He gave the ship a few minutes to drift away from the jump gate before turning to the comms officer.

"Is it them?" Folic asked.

"It's our contact! They just sent the proper identification codes!" The comms officer said excitedly. "Disable their engines. We do not want them trying to escape."Folic ordered calmly.

Without hesitation, one of the less damaged frigates of his fleet fired its rail guns, hitting the main thrusters of the defenceless cargo ship. Under the enormous rounds, the cargo ship's shields crumbled. The engines of the cargo ship were severed in a massive explosion. The main bulk of the cargo ship tumbled from the explosion, its maneuvering thrusters firing uselessly to straighten it out.

Folic grinned, his maw opening wide in a terrifying smile. "Purifier, they are sending us a tight beam laser link."His comms officer said.

"Ignore them. Send a boarding party to round up our prey. I wish to question our contact in person."Folic said excitedly.

The assault transport, Even in Death We March, dropped its cloaking field and burned hard, matching the tumbling cargo ship's speed. The transports crew, still rusty from centuries of hibernation, took almost an hour to bring the crew of that cargo ship back to one of his docking bays.

Excitement filled him, but he maintained a relaxed expression in front of his subordinates. He licked his leathery lips with a foot long red tongue, breathing deeply as he smelled his prey. His heart raced and his body tingled as he breathed in the universe's corruption.

The corruption was practically leaking from the bound aliens lined in the docking bay. His own soldiers, purified of the taint, looked on in disgust and rage on their leathery faces. Folic's claws clacked off the floor, playing a staccato beat, drawing the terrified expressions of his captives.

There were three alien species amongst his captives, a six legged insect, a furry four-legged predator, and a bipedal species with hair strands either on their faces or on the tops of their heads. These aliens were truly bizarre, piquing the interest of Folic.

With one leathery tentacle, he tossed a translation device to a quadrupedal being covered in red fur. The being snarled, but was restrained to the deck plating by its neck and legs.

"Greetings corrupted. What are your species called?" Folic asked, his tentacles swishing about him excitedly.

"I am of a species called the Tallax. That is a Gwark, and the bide pedal being is a human."

"How interesting.."Folic drawled, his voice a soft hum.

There was a long silence as all fifty prisoners watched him with tense expressions. "And who might you be? What species are you?" The Tallax asked, its voice deep and gravely. Folic whipped his tentacles around himself in annoyance.

"I am purifier Folic of the lifeless legion. Have no fear, as I am here to save you all from your constant misery. After I am done with my cleansing, you will no longer suffer from the taint of corruption."Folic said excitedly.

At his words, the Tallax's expression changed from fear, to abject terror. Good, it appeared this one already knew of the legion. There was an uproar, and a renewed effort by the prisoners to escape. Folic grinned, his maw open wide at the futile gestures of defiance. These people would soon be cleansed, the corruption removed to cleanse the universe of the vile corruption in their bodies.

Folic approached one of them, ignoring the beings frantically pleading. He placed one tentacle on the human's head and one on their chest. Folic tapped his reservoir, his power flowing into the tainted human. The human let out a high-pitched scream, their skin cracking and blood leaking from their pours as he purified the corruption of the human.

The first victim collapsed, lifeless to the floor plating. Folic clicked his long red tongue in disappointment. What a weak soul, unable to survive the cleansing of their reservoir. That was ok tho, as he had forty-nine more. Surely he could get some low-level converts out of them?

It took Folic about an hour to cleanse all the corruption of his prisoners. Once complete, he grinned, standing over the cleansed corpses. Despite their unwillingness to speak, he learned much from them after they watched the first few die.

He was truly lucky, as a massive war could help cover his presence nicely. If he played his cards right, he could gain a foothold before anyone knew what was happening. His work to find and repair the jump gate across the fringes was top priority. For now, he would lie low, biding his time and takeover targets of opportunity.

Folic turned to the five new soldiers arrayed in front of him, still trembling in pain. Their eyes were blank, lacking much of their previous intelligence. These would make excellent fodder, but in the future, he would need to properly convert more. Mindless puppets were good, but he rather preferred smart sub ordinants.

He only succeeded in converting five of the aliens to the legion. It was no matter, their souls were cleansed of the foul corruption, ridding them of the ability to move on to the afterlife. It was only fifty souls, but every one counted as that would be one less to purge in their battle to cleanse the afterlife.